Hope Rising
by Unrealdean
Summary: The disappearance of Kal-El in a world that needs him but suddenly rejected him Disclaimer: rights belong to dc comics, except for my original characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Krypton**

"Kelex, are you ready?" Jor-El asked

"Yes, I am fully integrated with the ship, the destination is set and will launch as scheduled," Kelex answered

"Good, engage stealth systems just before entering the solar system," Jor-El ordered

"Very well, Jor-El" Kelex replied

"I can't do it, I thought I could, but I can't" Lara said, looking at Kal sleeping in her arms

"Lara, this is hard for me too, but it's his only chance at survival" Jor-El replied

"He'll be alone out there among the stars," Lara rebuffed

"No, He won't, there is a man waiting for him on the chosen planet" Jor-El countered "He will make sure Kal gets the upbringing he needs"

"Can he be trusted?" Lara asked

"I wouldn't place our son's life in anyone I couldn't trust" Jor-El answered

Lara looked at Kal peacefully asleep "Know that, even in death, we'll always love you" eyes becoming teary

"Ignition sequence initiated" Kelex chimed

"It's time," Jor-El said, feeling tremors

Gently placing Kal in the ship, tears fell from Lara's face, Jor-El held her close

"Igniting booster engines" Kelex chimed

General Zod and Faora stood, next to Jor-El and Lara, and watched Kal - Els ship rocket into the night sky. Neither one of them seemed affected by the increasing earthquakes that shook the mountain fortress that was Jor-Els private lab, instead they silently reminisced about the lives the lead, the millennia long war they were born into, the lives they lost, the live they took. After Kal-Els ship disappeared from view, Lara prayed to Rao that Kal-El would have better life than theirs, for this was their end. The enemy of Krypton had won.

"Make a better world than ours Kal" Lara whispered

**28 Years Later, the present**

**Watchtower**

In the monitor room, Wally stared at the view of earth with the sun perfectly positioned behind, while batman scanned news feeds for any sightings of superman, who has been missing for the past year, on the control desk.

"Still nothing?" Wally asked looking at Batman.

"For the tenth time, no, we have no clue as to where he is" Bruce replied now annoyed

"What about his civilian identity? Surly he hasn't dropped it."

"Clark Kent took a position as a daily plant international conglomerate, he goes where the news is, he could be anywhere."

"Right, still though why leave like that he was fine for the first couple months, and it seemed like he was getting better as time went on especially in last few months, so why just up and leave like that?"

"Maybe it's a delayed reaction to the break up. I don't know; I'm not the best person to ask about such things, Wally."

"I guess so, I'm just confused and I kinda miss big blue."

"I know. We all miss him"

The doors to the monitor room open up, Diana and J'onn walked in looking tense and uneasy.

"What's up, Find anything" Wally asked looking hopeful

"No, nothing" J'onn stated as he took a seat next batman

"He moved the fortress. It's nowhere in the Arctic Circle" said Diana elaborating J'onns response.

"What!" Both Bruce and Wally asked looking shocked.

"How could he move it without us knowing? The place is the size of a small state with that free roaming zoo of his." Wally asked rhetorically.

"It's unknown, but I'm starting to worry about his well being" J'onn replied

"Me too, He hasn't shown up for emergencies, he is not answering any of our calls. I'm starting to think something's wrong." Diana added

"I'm sure it's nothing Diana, maybe his just taking time off to think or something?" in a hopeful voice, Wally replied.

"In any case, we need to find him to ask him about what's going on," Bruce said with hint worry in his voice

"I agree. We can't just accept that he'll leave without telling us why" Diana stated.

"So any other ideas on how we find him?" Wally asked.

After a moment of thinking, Bruce replied "Zatanna"

**10 Years ago **

**A secret base **

Scared and alone in her dank cell, Zatanna wondered as to what was happening outside. All she could make out where screams and explosions, her cell shook a lot more violently and she concluded the battle outside was drawing nearer. Zatanna started wondering if the young man she was forced to use her magic on earlier was the one causing all this. She knew he was extremely strong and practically indestructible.

Before she could wonder why the place suddenly became silent, her cell door ripped open like it was cardboard and there he was, shirtless with scorch marks and dirt all over him. Zatanna scuttled backwards into a corner as he approached her; afraid that he came to kill her; instead, he gave a gentle smile and extended his hand out to her.

"It's alright, I know they were using you against your will, I'm here to get you out"

Surprised about his apparent forgiveness of her role in his torture, Zatanna warily took his hand and got up, He then scooped her up and carried her out has she was too weak to stand on her own

"What's your name?" Zatanna asked weakly

"Kal-El" He replied "Try to rest, we'll talk more when we get some place safe"

**Present**

**Novoalexandrovsk, Russia**

"Why would I know?" Zatanna asked

Bruce and Diana had teleported down to the small town knowing they would find Zatanna laying low amongst the locals. After a bitter welcome from the bear sized wolfhound, Krypto, Zatanna let them in, to their surprised they learned that for the last 4 years Zatanna had been looking after a now 5-year-old girl, who she and Kal-El had rescued on a joined mission on a space station. An argument about them keeping it a secret from the league erupted with Bruce claiming them to be irresponsible and Zatanna countering with the fact that the league did not exist yet. Diana intervened and reminded Bruce why they came.

"You've known him longer than the rest of us, besides Faraday and Wally," Diana answered

"All I know for sure is that Amanda Waller and the sudden hatred from the public has something to do with it," Zatanna said turning her attention away from Bruce and Diana, walking swiftly away from them "Tonya, lunch!"

The blonde-haired, green eyed, 5-year-old came flying by with incredible speed and appeared in her seat at the table as Zatanna placed a plate with a sandwich on it. This almost started another argument from Bruce but he decided to let it go for now.

"We'll get out of your hair, you seem to have your hands full," Bruce said as he headed towards the door

Shaking her head Diana followed suite "Goodbye, Zatanna"

"Be careful, Diana" Zatanna replied as she watched Tonya eat her sandwich.

"I will" Diana replied


	2. Chapter 2

**Metropolis, Cemetery**

General Sam Lane stood silently staring at the grave of one of his daughters after another encounter with a super powered villain in the city; he lost almost half his men in the process of subduing the new villain. Now all he can think about is how right Lois was about the world and the city needing Superman, how she could be alive right now if he was still around. Feeling guilty of his unreasonable hate for Superman, Lane did all he could to take up the slack of fighting the bad meta-humans and supporting the good ones, specifically the justice league, without breaking military protocols.

"I figured I would find you here," Amanda Waller said standing a few meters away from the grave

"Everyone knows I come here after dealing with one of the bad meta-humans," Lane responded coldly

"You handled the situation surprisingly well"

"It could have gone a whole better if he was still around"

"Lane..."

"This is your fault! My daughter, everyone that died today and the past year, their blood is on your hands. So shut it, whatever it is you came here for your not getting it from me"

Lane walked away leaving Waller furious and feeling that her victory of making superman leave even more hollow than usual. Most everyone in the government didn't trust her anymore and her years of fighting for her position and power had been taken away in single day, all she was left with is task force x, more commonly known as the suicide squad, even they barely listen to her anymore and are rarely given any missions. All this did was fuel her hatred for the man of steel even more but she could not deny that things would be better if superman was still around.

**Watchtower**

Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Manhunter and Hawkgirl gathered in the watchtower league meeting room, seating in their respective seats on the round table. The feeling of inadequacy filled the room as they all noticed the empty seat that was once Kal-Els.

"Ugh, a whole year and we can't find him. We're the justice league it can't be that hard to find one guy" Wally said feeling worn out and frustrated.

"This is 'SUPERMAN' we're talking about. He can do whatever he wants; just ask John he found out the hard way. "A bored Hal answered.

"The whole thing with John happened six years ago, and it was Johns fault, so let it go, and it's beside the point"

"And what is the point?"

"We need him and he's made it hard for us to find him, even as Clark Kent, pinning where he'll be next is basically impossible."

"I don't think his physically using his Clark Kent persona," Answered J'onn

"What do you mean?" Shayera asked a now intrigued

"Articles that are published in his name are written in the same manner as the persona but never is there any actual sign that he was ever in the location of the story. No eyewitnesses, video or hotel bookings, all that is ever given is a plane ticket." J'onn explained.

All eyes turn to batman as he pulls up a document on a large screen.

"This is the travel record of every place Clark has been to over the past year. After checking every security camera from all the airports of each destination not one has a single image of Clark," Bruce explained

"And that means what?" Hal interrupted

Ignoring Hal, Bruce continued, "Clark **is** monitoring the globe and writing articles. This means his probably some place on earth. He's watching."

"That's not helpful, because we searched the planet four times and found nothing," Hal said

"Did you find anything on Amanda Waller?" Shayera asked

"Nothing concrete as usual, but she did slip up and imply that CADMUS and Clark got into a conflict which lead to the incident with Captain Atom." Bruce replied.

"So you think CADMUS had something to do with Captain Atom's death?" Wally questioned.

"That would explain why atoms suit suddenly had a rupture in it," Hal replied, "CADMUS probably had someone tamper with it before the fight, like a failsafe to discredit Kal"

"Maybe, Waller never liked Kal but killing one of her own like that seems a bit much." Shayera said unbelieving "especially someone like captain atom"

"You don't know her well enough" Bruce countered "she has been getting increasingly more ruthless over the years since Clark made his first appearance 8 years ago and her task force x hasn't helped calming her down."

"So you think she leaked all that footage and evidence that put sups in a bad light to the press?" Wally asked

"It's not beneath her" Bruce replied

"Where is Diana? I thought she would be here today," J'onn queried has he notice her empty seat

"She went to see green arrow. It turns out; he spoke to Kal a few days ago" Shayera answered off handily.

"And when were you planning on telling us?" Bruce asked annoyed at not finding out about it by himself.

"I** just** got the message"

"Let's hope he as the answers we need" Bruce said as Oliver, in Bruce's opinion, is too impulsive.

**A few hours earlier**

Walking through a dimly lit tunnel, Diana sees a large male figure ahead of her; she quickly moves towards the man and sees him to be superman.

"You favour Oliver now?"

"Diana" Kal simply replied with a stoic look

"It was not always so"

"Many things change"

"Many things but not everything"

Kal walks away turning his back to her.

"Kal stop! Let me look at you" Kal slowly turns around "You seem upset?"

"It's been a long week"

"What did you want with Oliver?"

After a heavy sigh, Kal responded, "to wish him well with his coming ventures"

"You're lying, I can tell because you're not good at it"

"I never required your comfort with it," Kal rebuffed

"True, but you never had to lie before or do you **now** think me heartless?"

"I think you have talent for survival" with that he quickly walks away again

"Kal stop, Is it really so terrible seeing me again?" she asked in a sad broken voice and a hurt look on her face.

"No, I'm just... tired" still looking stoic Kal answered

"What are you doing out there, why won't you tells us what's happening with you?"

"I hear your sisters are dying" Kal said changing the subject

"They are already gone, only Phillipus is left and I do not how much time she has left," she replied sad at having seen some of her sisters' die after all she has done to save them "I pray every day for answers"

Kal says nothing looking at her as her eyes become teary.

"I pray for you too"

"That is a shame... for I'm not even here," he says fading away before her eyes

Diana rubbed her eyes as woke from her daydream, she found herself on the couch of her London apartment and remembered she had to go see Oliver about his apparent meeting with Kal. The question had alerted her about the incident late last night. Forgetting the dream, Diana got up and changed into her Wonder Woman armour, then flew out her open balcony window and headed towards Seattle.

**The vast void of space**

An invasion fleet floats idle awaiting their next destination. In the mother ships command deck, Admiral Dar of the Drerio, a light grey-skinned woman with short red hair and red pupils, sits bored and half-asleep on her command chair when a communication officer appears hastily before her

"Ma'am, we found her," The green haired green-eyed officer reported

"Are you sure?" Admiral Dar reply sceptically

"Yes ma'am, it was brief but we managed to get a positive read, it is her"

Admiral Dar thought for a moment, if this is the child that was lost years ago, they have to retrieve her; the future of their people could be in peril.

"Where is she?" Dar asked

"We were scanning the guardian sector 2814, when the reading came through"

"The Martian home world"

"No ma'am, it's the one next to it"

"I don't recall it having any life what so ever"

"Apparently it does, Humans they are called"

"Hmm, Set course, we will find this child and verify if it's the one we lost"

"Yes ma'am"

**Seattle, The quiver (formally the arrow cave)**

Walking in the quiver Diana found Oliver by the computer researching an odd-looking creature and looking up new Armour designs, looking around she sees crates upon crates of all kinds of arrows and bows and gadgets and various military-grade vehicles.

"Something you need" Oliver said still focusing on his work.

"Yes, answers"

"Ok, first no I can't tell you why he was here or where his been, second you made the wrong choice last year" Sounding uninterested Oliver closed the files on the creature he was studying and the new amour.

"And what makes you think that?" Diana said feeling offended.

"The amazons failed in their mission and the time they were given to accomplish it had come to an end, they were never meant to live forever; you just delayed the inevitable"

"How would you know that?" Diana said surprised at Oliver's range of knowledge

"Trade secret, Bruce Is good, but he only focuses on non-mystical things; I focus on everything, plus he gets over confident sometimes"

"So you're better than Bruce?" Diana asked intrigued at Olive's analysis.

"Hardly, I'm just not as closed minded about the mystical side of things" olive said with a playful smile

Shaking her head, Diana asked, "So, Is there nothing I can do?"

"Not a thing, I'm afraid" he replied with regret in his voice "sorry"

"So what of Kal?" she asked with a vulnerability Oliver never thought he would see.

"His long lost to us, Diana, but I can say one thing, be on alert something big is coming, and tell the others." Oliver said walking towards an elevator after entering he turns to face Diana

"Oh! You should come to the Queen Industries and Wayne enterprise gala; we're about to announce our joint venture in funding the Justice League on Friday" switching to a charming smile

"You can be my date." Oliver yelled before the door closed

**Novoalexandrovsk, Russia**

After frantically packing their bags, Zatanna dresses Tonya in a thick heavy winter coat and boats. Bruce and Diana's visit the other day was not a good sign for Zatanna, it meant their magical cover and Tonya's safety had been compromised. Looking at Tonya's innocent face, Zatanna knew she would do anything to protect her and at this moment, it meant leaving the house they called home for 4 years.

_"They won't find Tonya, not where we're going, I won't let them" Zatanna thought "damn you Bruce"_

"Can I have some candy?" Tonya asked uninterested in what is happening

"Oh, sure" Zatanna replied slightly off guard from the question

Handing Tonya some candy from a side pocket on one of the bags, Zatanna looked around one last time, called Krypto, then held Tonya's hand and teleported them out to the one place she knew to be the safest place they could go to on earth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Watchtower**

"Oliver knows what Clarks been doing?" Bruce asked almost failing to hide his annoyances.

"He didn't outright say it, but yes, I believe they have being in communication since Kal left." Diana replied noting Bruce's efforts in remaining calm

"He may have aided Kal-El in his disappearance." J'onn stated

"And he hasn't said a word of it since?" Shayera asked annoyed with Oliver.

"Maybe they have a silence pact or something, In any case, we got something out of all this" Wally spoke up in defence of Oliver

"Yes, you said you saw a creature he was studying on his computer. You think it's what he's warning us about?" J'onn asked

"No that looked more like something he was adding to a list of creatures, what interested me is the high tech amour he has, plus the quiver is stocked up like an apocalypse is coming, it's like he's expecting a full-on war or highly powerful opponent," Diana said with a cringing worry

"Well, that just makes him keeping quiet all the more worrisome, why not tells us, so we can prepare also?" Wally asked looking nervous.

"I was looking forward to a joke there, but you're right; I asked the ring and got nothing on anything big happening, looks like the guardians don't know either" Hal said in serious tone

"I'll see to getting answers from Oliver after the gala tomorrow evening," Bruce said feeling helpless

"I'll come with," Diana added

"No nee..."

"I have an invite, so I'm coming with weather you want me to or not" She interrupted

"What are you planning on doing?" Shayera asked

"Just ask him to be truthful with us," Diana replied

"No lasso?" Hal asked eyeing the lasso

"No Lasso"

"Right," Shayera said sceptically

"I wonder what his actual reasons for leaving are; bad publicity never stopped him before" Whispered Wally

"Whatever it was it gave Kal enough reason to leave." J'onn answered unaware Wally was talking to himself.

**Themyscira **

With the meeting over and it being her day off, Diana decided to visit Phillipus, who refused to leave the island stating if she has to die it will be on her home island and nowhere else. Opting to fly, Diana flew inches above the calm waters as the island drew nearer, Diana, using her enhanced vision, could see Phillipus by the city gates, wearing a long slightly cream white Grecian dress with gold trims along the v shaped neckline.

"General"

"Princess"

"You're getting some grey hairs," Diana said noting four gray hairs

"About time, I was starting to feel left out." Phillipus replied with a nerve braking calm.

"They don't bother you?" Diana asked finding Phillipus calm overwhelmingly scary not even Queen Hippolyta was this calm.

"No, my time has come, and I'll face it like everything else, without fear and regret"

"Did I make the wrong choice?"

"Honestly, you did." Phillipus replied, "I was meant to be a vanguard, spreading the message of truth and peace, instead I was a captain of the guard on an Island that simulated peace" looking at Diana "we were in Elysium and for the first time I saw our sisters experience real joy and happiness"

Diana's eyes widened at the generals' words.

"It's ok; you missed us. We do not blame you or at least I don't but it is time for you to let us go and find a new home"

"I had a new home, but I gave it up for you"

"Kal-El"

"Yes, as long as I was with him anywhere would be home" Diana said with a sad smile

"Can you not return to him?"

"I don't even know where he is" Diana replied woefully

Behind the gates, a 6'4" woman dressed similar to Phillipus but in a light sky-blue appeared in ball of white light

"Diana"

"Mother" Diana said surprised

"How are you?" Athena asked giving Diana a warm hug.

"I am well" Diana replied still in shock

"And how are you Phillipus?"

"As well as I can be, Lady Athena" Phillipus replied bowing her head

"Good, shall we walk to the beach?"

"Of course, what brings you here, mother?" Diana asked both surprised and overjoyed for Athena's sudden appearance.

"To spend time with my only child, of course, why else would I be here?"

"It's just surprising that you would show up like this. You always have Hermes announce your arrival days before you arrive"

"Can't a mother just surprise her child?"

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to seem ungrateful, I am glad that you came; I missed you" Diana said apologetically.

"I missed you too, more than you know" Athena said squishing Diana against herself with one arm

"How long are you visiting for?"

"We have the day. I needed to see you"

"Is something wrong?"

"Why do you always assume something is wrong?" Athena asked seeing Diana tense up.

"Sorry, it's the training" Diana said feeling silly

"I thought the rest of the world would have taught you how to relax" Athena said arching an eyebrow, "I suppose it's up to me to show you how"

"If anyone is going to teach me it might as well be you," Diana replied with a giggle

Arriving at the beach, Diana took off her armour and run towards the water, forgetting she's a grown woman and not a five-year girl, Diana shouted" last one in is a rotten egg!"

Athena disrobed and run joining Diana in the water. Leave Phillipus watching with a smile happy to see her princess let her hair down.

**Antarctica, The fortress**

In a simulation of a basic city landscape, Big Barda (whom Kal had invited to be his trainer after meeting her and Scott Free on a remote trade planet two years ago) wore battle armour designed to take on a Kryptonian. Barda pushed Kal into an apartment building, where she repeatedly hit Kals torso as he failed to block her punches, Kal backed up giving himself some space then delivered a punched that hit Bardas fist, which stunned her for a second.

Kal quickly grabbed and threw Barda across the entire building, making her crashing through every room and then flew to tackle her outside and up above the buildings, where he punched her to the street.

Barda quickly stood up in anticipation of the next attack only to be knocked back by a heat vision blast, seeing Kal flying in for a punch she countered by sideswiping to the left and upper cutting Kal, hitting him with a kryptonite knuckled gauntlet, causing him to flip back in pain and crash in to the road. Still disoriented from the pain Kal received a kick the stomach that sent him flying into a car at the end of the street.

"Really, Kal?" Barda yelled in annoyance, "You could have ended this, ten minutes ago! End simulation"

As the simulation ended, turning the room back into its crystal like walled arena.

"You don't say" Kal replied as he stood up. His suit reverted into its t-shirt form, allowing him to take it off

"The reason you got those scars is because you don't immediately disable your opponent and you lost focus on technique when I started becoming more of a challenge" Barda continued noting Kals three claw marks on his back and the s shield brand on his chest "You should have removed the armour first to level the playing field. It's not like you didn't have the strength and speed to do so"

"Yeah, I know, I guess I'm still a little stuck in my old methods" Kal said as Barda removed her armour "it's no excuses, I'll work on it"

Now in her red bikini battle wear, Barda turned to look at Kal, who is half a head shorter than she is.

"Look, this is not about killing your opponent, it's just disarming them so you can have the advantage to make them give up the fight"

Before Kal could respond, Kelex chimed "Incoming message from King Faraday"

"Patch him through" Kal instructed

On a holographic screen on the wall, King Faraday appeared, a handsome man with slick black hair with a very fifties charm about him, and he looked much younger than he actually is despite the life his had before becoming the head of A.R.G.U.S. an agency that works as an intermediary for the justice league and the governments of earth.

"Kal, Barda, am I interrupting?" Faraday asked noting Kals lack of a shirt and Barda in her bikini armour

"No" Barda replied knowing why Faraday asked

"Is something the matter, Faraday?" Kal asked

"Oliver wants you to come to the gala, Bruce and Diana are going to corner him there" Faraday replied

"I can't go" Kal said coldly

"Kal, Oliver needs you; he's been working his ass off to keep you under the radar. People think you're off planet because of him" Barda said trying to guilt him into going "Just go and make sure they don't use the lasso on him"

"Fine but I'm not going in unless he really needs me"

"That works for me," Faraday said

"You're going to be there?" Kal asked

"Yes, I'll be with Oliver when they question him"

"Alright, I'll keep watch if they start asking about me or Diana pulls out her lasso, end the conversation"

"Done deal," Faraday confirmed before cutting the connection

"What?" Kal asked seeing Barda staring at him disapprovingly

"Support your friends no matter what, Kal" Barda replied walking away towards the door

**Detroit, Michigan**

In his human disguise J'onn walked into his apartment hoping to get some form of peace and quiet, but having taken six steps after closing the door J'onn found himself in a ring of fire, nullifying his powers, rending him confused and helpless. Looking over the flames, he sees a figure walking out the shadows, the most J'onn could make out is a woman of a height of 5'6" dressed in a black with blue trims light armour jumpsuit with a full-face mask.

The woman started humming as she placed four round disks around J'onn

"What do you want?" J'onn asked weakly

"Nothing, I'm just doing my job" She replied placing the last disk on the floor

"Who are you?"

"Sakatumi Hinjew, pleased to meet you"

Shock and horror run across J'onns face upon hearing her name, he instantly knew why she was here, over the past year superheroes and villains alike were being murdered with nothing but a video of the victims last moments being sent to their friends and families or the police as the only evidence.

"Before we begin, I am obligated to tell you that my employer, just like everyone else before you, wants you dead," Sakatumi explained as she turned on a camera, "I don't know why, maybe you kicked my employers puppy or something, in any case you're going to die tonight"

J'onn fell to his knees and shifted to his natural form, as he got weaker from the flame around him, as Sakatumi placed the camera on a tripod, pointing it towards him

"Now what's about to happen is that your left half is going to the centre of the sun and the right is going to the centre of the earth, thanks to the teleportation disks I've placed around you" Sakatumi explained

"Now this shouldn't hurt but then again I've never teleported someone to two separate places before, anyway have a nice trip and thank you for choosing Hinjew travels"

With a loud scream, J'onn blinked out of the room and the flames dissipated. Sakatumi turned off the camera and started packing up; once done, she took the cameras memory card and placed it inside an envelope. Wrote 'for the Head of A.R.G.U.S. King Faraday', called the police then left the apartment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Somewhere in space **

In her cabin, Admiral Dar sat at her desk reviewing files on the missing child she is hoping to find on earth. Dar already knew the child was meant to be part of a special program of the Dario military to train perfect soldiers, what she learned from the new data is that the child is a Trongar, one of the slave nations of the Dario, they possessed the natural ability of flight, super speed, invulnerability and super strength.

The only problem the Dario have with the Trongar is that they are dying out due to low birth rates and a lack of suitable food in the Dario controlled space. Admiral Dar could only think of the advantage of having the child in their military, they could expand their empire to new worlds with minimal effort. With proper training and conditioning, the child would be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, the more she thought about it the more Admiral Dar wanted to find the child and soon. A comms alert beep interrupted her thoughts, answering her com terminal the black haired matching eyes Lord-Emperor Bore appeared in hologram form.

"My lord" Admiral Dar greeted as she kneeled

"Admiral Dar, rise" He commanded, "I have been informed that you are looking for a lost slave child"

"Yes my lord" Admiral Dar answered, "We have confirmation of its presence on a planet near the Martian home world"

"I see, and you believe it is worth finding?"

"Yes my lord, it is still of an age that will be susceptible to the train and conditioning. It is invaluable for our military"

Lord Bore thought for a moment then replied, "Very well, we will see to adding it to our army, return quickly and safely Admiral"

"As you wish my lord"

**Antarctica, The fortress **

Deep within the frozen continent, Zatanna and Tonya made themselves at home. Sitting on the porch of the first level living area drinking a glass of soda, Zatanna watched Tonya running around the massive garden with Krypto, just laughing and playing, it put a small smile on her face as she enjoyed seeing Tonya happy. Barda joined Zatanna, dressed in a white tank top, blue skinny jean and barefoot.

"How did they find you?" Barda asked

"I don't know, they just showed up" Zatanna replied

"Someone with powerful magic must have aided them. It is fortunate that it wasn't..."

"It doesn't matter now, how is Kal?" Zatanna interjected

"He is doing well, I had Kelex set a reminder for him to visit Tonya next week but that has become irrelevant"

"Where is he?"

"I don't know, I left him in the training room"

"He's lucky to have you here with him, I imagine it would have been really lonely without a friend for company"

"Oh, I don't know, I'm mostly here for the training besides I think Kelex would have filled that void before it even became a problem"

"Maybe, I know Tonya did that for me"

"This place has become sort of a refuge for us hasn't it," Barda said thinking of Scott Free "So what's it like looking after a child like her?"

"It's much like a normal child; I think I got lucky in that she's sweet and well-behaved."

"She is lovely to have around, Scott and I once hoped for a child of our own... once," Barda said with sadness in her voice

After a moment of a pause, Barda continued, "Kal will be leaving later"

"Where is he going?" Zatanna asked

"Some gala Oliver is co hosting,"

"Is he ending his exile?"

"No, Oliver wants him there just in case he gets backed into a corner, some of your Justice League friends will be there"

"Oh, so he's meant to stop them from cornering him"

"Yes, it seems Oliver has no allies outside the three of us"

"He gave up a lot to protect Kal from the world," Zatanna stated

"I just hope Kal can see that" Barda replied

**Gotham**

Arkham Asylum has been reduced to a smouldering crater, vaporised mere hours ago, on a ledge nearby , overlooking the remains of Arkham island, Sakatumi Hinjew makes a call to her employer, giving a progress report.

"Yes, everyone on the list was in the building," Sakatumi reported, "I have time to make a detour before returning, who's my next target?"

Taking a last look at the chaos of confused emergency personnel around the Arkham Island, trying to figure out what happened; Sakatumi couldn't help but smile at her handy work. This was the most technically demanding assassination, wanting to do one better after the man hunter; she opened a temporary portal that lasted 0.6 seconds to the Sun, allowing the immense heat to strike down on Arkham.

"On my way," Sakatumi replied before hanging up, "No rest for the wicked."

**Sydney, Australia **

Backstage of the joined Queen industries, Wayne enterprises and A.R.G.U.S. venture to fund and develop new technologies with the Justice League; Bruce meets with Oliver in preparation of their presentation. The event is mainly to promote the images of the parties involved and assure the public that even with superman missing the justice league and A.R.G.U.S. can still protect the world.

"Remember Diana and I need..."

"Yeah, yeah, Diana already told me, we got an announcement to make, remember?" Oliver interrupted

Bruce gave Oliver one of his Bat-stares.

"That only works with the mask," Oliver said with a laugh

"Ladies and gentlemen, your hosts, Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne"

**One building away from the Gala**

It is a clear night, nothing much was happening in the city besides the gala. Kal, in blue jeans, converse shoes and his S shield t-shirt, landed on the ledge of the building next to a hooded figure watching the roof of the gala building.

"Damian"

"Kal"

"Bruce put you up to this?"

"No, Faraday did"

This caught Kal by surprise "Faraday, since when do you work from him?"

"Since Oliver alienated himself to protect your presence on earth," Damian replied

"And what about Bruce, does he know of your affiliation with Faraday and Oliver?"

"Just Faraday, Bruce thinks he's putting me to use on A.R.G.U.S. type missions"

"That's obviously not the case, what have you been doing?"

"Helping Oliver of course, keeping Waller off your tail has not been easy, she doesn't believe your off world" Damian replied still watching the gala building

"She's a tough sell," Kal stated

**The Roof of the Gala's Building**

"Full moon, think they have Aussie werewolves? You know, wolves from down under."

"Cut the wise cracks, Oliver, You're going to tell us everything you know." Bruce demanded

"No, he's not, you'll get what you need, not what you want." Faraday stated

"We're not here to argue" Diana chimed in "We just need answers. We're in the dark and worried about Kal."

"Well, I can't say much..."

"Why not?" Bruce growled interrupting Oliver.

"We don't have a lot of information, our man on the inside has gone dark" Oliver replied

"What we can say is that Amanda Waller is in over her head with her new allies," Faraday added "She's going to bring a war Earth is not ready for"

"Why not tell us? We can help, you know we can" Diana asked feeling a little offended at being left out.

"And what exactly would you do that we can't?" Faraday replied looking at Diana."We have this under control, there isn't much any of you could do to help anyways"

"Faraday would have informed you if Apokolips was an actual threat, for now we have Waller to deal with" Oliver said, as he sat down on the ledge "No need to worry you over something that might not happen"

"But what is this Apokolips you speak of?" Diana asked

"Oh right, you guy don't know," Faraday replied "two years ago big blue, while on one of his space trips, came across a trade planet that became subject to an invasion from Apokolips forces. He managed to end the invasion with the aid of two former residences of Apokolips and Starfire"

"Apokolips is home to some pretty nasty people, all of whom are akin to gods in a highly advanced technological sense," Oliver added

"So Apokolips didn't take to kindly to Clark's intervention," Bruce said bluntly "Speaking of, what happened to Clark?"

"We're done talking" Oliver replied

Before Bruce or Diana could press for more, Faraday interjected "I have some terrible news, Last night J'onn J'onzz was murdered and I received a video of his death earlier this evening"

"Oh gods" Diana said before holding her mouth

"Who did this?" Bruce demanded

"My guess would be the person who's been killing heroes and villains over the past year" Oliver replied still in shock

"It's definitely her, the M/O fits," Faraday confirmed

"We need to find this killer immediately," Diana declared in a rage

"We don't even know who we're looking for," Oliver said, "The most anyone gets is a muddled voice"

"But she can't get away with this" Diana replied her anger growing

"She won't," Bruce, stated, "We'll catch up to her and bring her in to answer for her crimes and J'onns death"

"I'll let you know when we'll be holding a memorial for J'onn," Faraday informed, "I need to get to my office and get started on filing this."

Since Kal left shortly after hearing the news of J'onn murder, Damian made his way across the rooftops back to the hotel Faraday had set him up in. Along the way Damian could not help but wonder who this woman was, she must be highly skilled and experienced to be able to take on the likes of the man hunter and her previous victim Black Adam.

**Antarctica, The fortress **

Kal arrived still slighty shaken at the revelation of J'onns death, making his way through the living area to the dining room he found Zatanna and Tonya seated at the table waiting. As he took a seat he looked at Tonya for a bit, her smile reminded him that everything will be ok and that J'onn is in a happier place, finally reunited with his family, Barda came in with dinner, placing the food on the table; she noted that something is off with Kal.

"What's the matter?" Barda asked taking her seat

"I'll tell you later, let's eat" Kal replied

"Are you sure?" Zatanna asked with worry in her voice

"Yeah, it can wait"


	5. Chapter 5

**Themyscira**

Diana sat on the beach watching the waves as she still mourned J'onns passing, lost in sorrow Diana didn't notice a red haired woman sit next her, barefoot wearing jean cut-offs and a plain white tank top. After a moment of silence, Diana quickly shuffled away in surprise as she noticed the woman.

"Am I really that frightening?" the woman chuckled

"Who are you?" Diana demanded

"Oh right, we haven't met," The woman replied, "I'm a relative,"

"Which one, I have a lot of them," Diana shot back "No thanks to my grandfather"

"Some think he is my father others think his grandfather is my father" She replied "But to you I'm the one you seem to be spending most of your time praying to lately"

"Aphrodite" Diana said with shock as she came to realize who the woman is, "Mother said you disappeared ages ago"

"I did, during the time of Alexander the great" Aphrodite replied, "I needed the time off, soul searching if you will"

Diana raised an eyebrow

"I know, I know, Hard to believe a goddess soul searching how weird, right?" Aphrodite said noting Diana's scepticisms "I just needed to leave"

"Where did you go?"

"Not telling, anyways that's not why I'm here"

"Why are you here then?"

"To ask you a favour," Aphrodite answered with a serious look "I need you to forget about Kal-El for now"

"What?"

"Diana, I know you love him but you made a poor choice in leaving him, but you must fully embrace that choice, forget about him"

Diana thought about protesting but Aphrodite was right she made a choice. She had to live with it. She looked down at sand speechless, she was mourning J'onn and now she had to deal with this, the news could not have come at a more terrible time, she thought.

"I know it's hard" Aphrodite said as she put a hand on Diana's shoulder "But I will make it up to you, I'll give you what you desire in due time, I give you my word"

Looking up Diana found Aphrodite had left, disappeared to wherever she was hiding. Diana thought long and hard about Aphrodite's request. She knew it would be difficult but decided to trust the goddess of love and do as asked.

**4 years ago**

**Sahara desert**

In an underground chamber, after a long and intense battle with a newly risen sorcerer, Kal finished placing a lager stone door on the sorcerers' tomb, Zatanna recited an incantation to seal the tomb, and Kal stepped back and watched her finish.

"Ok, that should do it" Zatanna said, closing her spell book "Next time tell Faraday to send the Justice league"

"They don't have a magically proficient member" Kal replied, picking Zatanna up "Anyway; I think it's time for lunch"

"How about something Brazilian" Zatanna asked, with a smile, as Kal floated up to the cave's exit

"I don't think I've ever tried a Brazilian dish" Kal replied,

"Me neither, I just thought of it" Zatanna confessed

"We should look up a place to go to once we're in range of a signal," Kal said

"Won't your girlfriend mind?" Zatanna asked teasingly

"What girlfriend?" Kal asked confused

"Diana?"

"I barely even know her, plus she's with the Justice League I don't mingle with those guys much"

"Oh right, you just help out if you end up in same place, are they still trying to get you to join?"

"No, Faraday got them of my back"

"You never told me how you know THE HEAD OF A.R.G.U.S. the most dangerous human being on the planet"

"Faraday is the one that my father sent me to when krypton exploded and he's not that dangerous"

"Anyone who can stop the Justice League just by saying no, is extremely dangerous in my book"

Exiting the cave and out into the desert sand, Kal puts Zatanna down,

"Anyway, I thought the Kent's found you?" Zatanna said slightly confused

"No, Faraday gave me to them; Pa Kent was an old war buddy of Faraday's" Kal explained as he picked up a large stone slab and covered the entrance "Even then he kept coming by to check up on me, after the Kent's died, Faraday came to Smallville and stayed with me throughout high school"

"So, he has been looking out for you all this time?"

Before Kal could answer, Kelex notified him about a space station falling out of orbit, without a word he picked Zatanna up and took off, briefing her along the way

**London**

**A.R.G.U.S headquarters**

Sitting at his desk, Faraday was reading a story Clark wrote about how relations with the Amazons failed and the shutting down of the Themysciran Embassy. Clark tried to put a friendlier outlook on the story, other news outlets were not as kind, as the Amazons were nothing like what Diana had made people think they were. Their anti male stance did not sit well with world leaders, at first it seemed they were just speaking for equality but their hatred for men soon became clear. Everyone agreed that what happened to the Amazons was tragic and unforgivable but it did not justify their actions against most men.

As Faraday started reading the last paragraph, a voice he had not heard in the last four days rang in his ear, looking up he saw Zatanna standing next to Kal. Faraday wondered what was going on until he saw a child standing between her and Kal, then it all become clear as to why they were here.

"Don't you normally wear black leather?" Faraday asked noticing Zatanna's strapless yellow summer dress

"That's for work" Zatanna replied

"Right"

"We got a lot to talk about" Kal interjected

"We sure do"

**Present**

**The fortress**

Making a sandwich for herself, Barda watched Kal and Tonya playing in the garden, she couldn't help but notice how happy and care free Kal was, it was a side of him she had never seen before. In their game of tag, Kal caught and tickled Tonya making her laugh hysterically before picking her up. Tonya hugged Kal tightly for long moment before letting go.

"You're not leaving us again are you?" Tonya asked shyly

"What, no, I'm not going anywhere" Kal asked slightly surprised

"Promise"

"I promise"

This brought a smile to her face, she hugged him again and said "I love you, dad"

"I love you too"

"Tonya, it's time for your lessons" Zatanna called out, standing by the glass door

"But ma" Tonya protested

"No buts, you're doing your lessons, come on" Zatanna insisted

Tonya looked at Kal with sad eyes

"NO, it's lesson time" Kal said trying to resist her sad eyes "Kelex worked really hard on them, you don't want to hurt her feelings do you?"

"No" Tonya said before floating inside

Barda, still watching, thought to herself _"for people who are not in a romantic relationship they sure do have the whole parent thing worked out, Tonya is even referring to them as her parents"_

"What are you thinking about?" Kal asked walking in the kitchen

"Just how much of a cosy family you guys are" Barda replied

"Cosy family"

"Yes, You the dad, Zatanna the mom, Tonya the child, and Krypto the family dog"

"Really, so what does that make you the aunt?" Kal asked sarcastically

"Yes it does" Barda replied much to Kal's surprise "Because I'm not the maid"

"Ok, ok, I'll admit, we've become some sort of a family over the years but that's only because we're all Tonya has"

"I understand that Kal, I find it cute that's all," Barda said smiling "She's lucky you're the ones that found her, who knows what could have happened otherwise"

"Yeah, I guess you're right"

"You're doing great as parents, you love her and protect her," Barda said holding Kal's arm "Just keep doing that and she'll be fine"

They remained in silence as Barda ate her sandwich

"Could you come with tomorrow?" Kal asked breaking the silence "To J'onns memorial"

"I thought you weren't going?" Barda replied

"He was a close friend and the only one of the justice league who understood why I really left" Kal explained "I need to be there, even if it means watching from a distance"

"But you can't do it alone?"

"I would ask Zatanna but she will have her hands full with Tonya"

"And it's too much of a risk to take Tonya with" Barda added, "I'll go with you"

"Thank you"

**London**

**A.R.G.U.S headquarters**

General Lane entered Faraday's office, to his surprise it was nothing-special just a couch, a coffee table, bookshelf and a desk. Lane figured Faraday did not spend a lot of time here and had not seen the need to add anything to it. Faraday was on the phone, looking up he gestured for Lane to take a seat, Lane sat in one of the chairs by the desk and waited.

"General, glad you could make it" Faraday greeted hanging up

"You made it sound important that we meet"

"It is, I have something for you, well your men"

"My men?"Lane asked curious as to what a man with access to the Justice league would have to give

"Lane, you and your men are doing a good job in Metropolis but your still out matched" Faraday said leaning back in his chair "I want to help you even up the playing field,"

"Nothing comes without a price"

"Amanda Waller"

General Lane remained silent waiting for Faraday to continue

"Give her what she wants and you will get the one thing that can solve all your problems"

"What are you nuts? I can't do that"

"Yes you can, give Waller what she wants and I guarantee she won't reap the benefits" Faraday replied "You need what I'm offering Lane, metropolis and the world needs what I'm offering"

"Then why not just give it to the world?"

"I need to give him a reason to come back"


	6. Chapter 6

**Gotham**

**An old sewer tunnel**

Killer croc was just finishing his latest meal, when he heard the sound of a knife scraping a wall, coming towards him. Looking up the tunnel he saw Sakatumi in black and red armour wielding two daggers, croc stood up to his full height of 7'5", which made Sakatumi giggle, this confused croc slightly as she took up a fighting stance and waved him over with her dagger.

"You lost lady?" Croc asked in a growl.

"No, I just found my practice dummy" Sakatumi replied "come on, show me what you got **freak**"

Croc growled in anger before charging at her, with double the speed that of croc Sakatumi slid under him and sliced off his left leg. Croc roared in pain as he fell on his right knee, Sakatumi in one fluid flip, slashed his back and sliced his right arm off. Landing in front of croc, she held his neck, removed her helmet, placed a dagger under his chin and stared deeply into his eyes.

"I really never wanted to do this, you're not a mark, but I can't risk you telling Batman who I am and for that I am truly sorry" Sakatumi apologised.

Croc saw genuine sorrow in her green eyes and slowly nodded, he knew she was a killer but she never killed someone who was not a mark; Croc figured this was the most painful thing she would ever do. She was about to kill the closest thing to friend she has ever had. He did not blame her she is a survivor that is why he liked her, Sakatumi placed her forehead on his.

"You didn't die alone," Sakatumi whispered, as she slit his throat, cutting his head off in the process "Not like I will"

**The Next Day**

**Space**

Admiral Dar sat in her command chair, still reading up on the missing child, looking over the latest report of the child. She concluded that they were going in the right direction and she was confident of the child's presences on Earth but without any further signs from the planet, some doubt still lingered in her mind.

"Admiral" An enlist called out "Commander Vid is requesting permission to come aboard"

"Permission granted"

Moments later, the red haired matching eyed commander Vid appeared before the Admiral

"Admiral" Vid saluted

"At ease, Commander"

"I have information that is of great value to our current mission," Vid said with a serious tone

"What is it?" Dar asked noting his seriousness

"Some of our agents have reported that the child was last known to be rescued by two guardians of the planet we are currently headed to." Vid informed, "One of them is a female of unknown origin, it is not like the inhabitants of the planet, even though it looks like them and we have next to no information about its abilities"

"Could it be a threat?"

"Yes"

"And the other one"

"Kryptonian"

That one word sent a cold chill down Admiral Dar's spine and made her heart skip three beats

"Impossible" Dar managed to force out

"We checked fifty times, Admiral, it's a Kryptonian male, it's been protecting the planet for some time now, but it recently disappeared" Vid replied

"Disappeared?"

"According to the information we've gathered, it disappeared by its own volition"

"They have the child" Dar declared "The Kryptonian and the female are protecting the child"

"Are you sure, Admiral?"

"As sure as you're standing before me, few could hide the child from us for so long" Dar replied coldly "Prepare the fleet, we will have an empowered Kryptonian to battle once we arrive"

"As you wish, Admiral"

**The fortress**

On Kal's bed holding him and gently running her fingers through his hair, Zatanna sat in silence with Kal, he had not said a word since he returned from J'onns memorial. This was a new experience for Zatanna; she had never seen Kal like this before, she felt so helpless, she wanted to make the pain go away but even with her magic, she knew all she could do was hold him.

"I don't know who I am" Kal said softly

Arching an eyebrow Zatanna asked, "You don't know who you are?"

Kal let out a breath before responding "All my life, I was Clark Kent, farm boy turned reporter, but it never felt right. Clark Kent is a normal human being; problem is I'm not human. So how can I claim to be if I'm not?"

"And you're not sure you can claim to be Kryptonian either?" Zatanna added

"Well, from what I can tell they're emotionless, cold and distant" Kal replied as he sat up, "I feel for others, **a sense of humanity,** as humans call it"

"Have you seen the video, the one of when your parents sent you to earth?" Zatanna asked apprehensively

"Yes. Have you been snooping?"

"You gave me full access to the fortress" Remembering the sadness of the video Zatanna continued, "Did you see their faces, did you hear your father's voice and did you see your mother cry?"

"Yeah, I did" Kal sadly sighed,

"So how can you say they're emotionless, when they displayed such love for you, wouldn't their actions count as having a **sense of humanity?**" she asked, with a shy smile, "I'm guessing you got that emotionless idea from the virtual constructs. You do not have to be human to care for the living, we have fought so many humans who have no sense of humanity, being human doesn't mean you automatically have a sense of humanity"

"Where are you going with this?" Kal asked, seeing that she is trying to get something out

"If you don't know who are, you'll be what everyone else wants you to be and you're true self will be lost." Zatanna replied,

"You think I'm not being myself?" Kal asked

Tracing her fingers on his S shield, she said, "You have such great potential, I've watched you from time to time and I've seen glimpses of your true self, mostly when we have some down time together, like now. It is remarkable, really, the power, the intelligence, the care, the love, the mercy, the dedication, the joy, the hope. You can make an even greater difference than you realise" she let out a heavy sigh before continuing, "Being Clark Kent and Superman is understandable I guess, but their just masks that you hide behind"

"I don't hide behind Superman," Kal rebuffed

Zatanna countered by saying "Superman, big dumb flying brick, hit and hit harder, Clark Kent ridiculously awkward. Are you trying to tell me that's who you are?"

"No but if that's what you see and don't like it, then why do you keep hanging out with me?" Kal asked with a hint of venom in his voice

"Because I've seen the real you, the one I'm trying to get you to see right now, the one who saved me" Zatanna answered, looking into Kals eyes "The one I'm attracted to"

"Because of the potential?" Kal asked noting the last thing she said

Noting his scepticism, she answered, "I know what it's like; being what others want you to be... It is a sad and lonely existence, you came to hate yourself, loath everything you have done and hate everyone around you. If you cannot be who you are, then why try to be anything at all?"

Zatanna placed her hand on his cheek "Clark Kent is what your human friends wanted you to be, Superman is what the world wants you to be and that leaves Kal-El... **who is he**?"

Kal contemplated her words, staring into her violet blue eyes, he could not answer her but he knew one thing, his feelings for her were deeper than he thought. Leaning in he claimed her lips, Zatanna was surprised but quickly recovered and return the kiss with equal passion. Kal pulled her in closer causing her to straddle him.

As Kals hand was about to hit the red sun emitter switch, Kelex chimed in

"Mistress Zatanna, there is a matter that is of interest to you" Kelex informed her

"We'll continue this later," Zatanna said before walking out in a sultry manner "What's the matter Kelex?"

"The little one is being problematic for Mistress Barda" Kelex replied sounding exasperated

"Wonderful timing" Kal said sarcastically under his breath as he glanced over the emitter switch and unclenched his fist, revealing the indentations in his bed frame.

**Gotham**

**The bat cave**

Bruce sat behind his computer frustrated; he had been to J'onns apartment and found no evidence of any one other than J'onn being there. The destruction of Arkham did not help; he found a letter after returning from Sydney on his computer in the bat cave. It was from the assassin and it contained a video of Arkham's disintegration. One thing Bruce could say for sure about the assassin was that she had access to advanced technology

"Ah, here I was hoping you would be watching the Arkham video"

Bruce turned in his chair shocked half to death to find a woman standing behind him, leaning on a guardrail; she wore a figure hugging black dress that ended just above the knee, Bruce made a mental note of her features

"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked getting ready for a fight

"I thought you might like to talk to your friends' killer and the one who took care of the poor excuse of a prison, Arkham Asylum" Sakatumi replied with a sweet smile

"You'll pay for that," Bruce said getting up

"Hold on there, bat-mite, I'm not really here," Sakatumi said as her image change into a blonde blue-eyed woman in a red two piece bikini "so we won't be fighting or doing anything else besides talking"

"That's not your real face"

"Nope and neither was the last one" Sakatumi replied "but then again I don't remember what I actually look like, I'm not a fan of mirrors"

"Why are you doing this?" Bruce asked wondering how she is projecting the hologram "Why kill J'onn?"

"Why does everyone assume I would know?" Sakatumi asked, "I'm an assassin, I don't ask why my employer wants someone dead, I just do the killing"

"So you have a boss?"

"For each assassination" Sakatumi lied, knowing full well she only has one employer.

"I will find you"

"My current employer won't allow that"

"He won't stop me"

"He's the only reason you're not the one I'm about to kill,"

"What?" Bruce asked with horror in his voice

"Oh didn't I say? I'm working at the moment" Sakatumi replied with a devilish grin "and I'm clocking out, mission complete"

"What did you do, who did you just kill" Bruce demanded

"That's for her family to know, thanks for the chat," Sakatumi said before her hologram disappeared

**Metropolis**

A woman alone in her apartment; it has been a long day, she sat on her couch drinking a glass of red wine, nothing expensive but not the cheap stuff either. Turning on the TV, the reason for her long day came on, disasters, crime rates and super villains, normally this would be a good thing for her, given the fact that she's a reporter, but not today, not since Superman left.

"_The city and the world seem to be falling into chaos with each passing day, with each day superman isn't around," _she thought to herself _"The justice league is doing well, but they don't have the effect he has, the inspiration, the desire to better ourselves, the hope of brighter tomorrow, not at his level"_

Her thoughts cut short as her apartment lights went out, nothing worked she could not hear the city or see outside. Utter darkness. Then her phone rang, carefully making her way through the dark she found her phone, checking the caller ID she did not recognise the number

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is a pre-recorded message, thank you for choosing Venus as your holiday destination. In ten seconds the protective shield will fail and you will experience atmospheric pressure 94 times that of Earth and let's not forget the wonderful drops of sulphuric acid rain. We sincerely hope you enjoy your stay and will keep us in mind for any future holidays. This message is brought to by Sakatumi holidays. We take you the extra mile."

"What? No!" she yelled but it was too late.

Lois Lane would die on Venus. Alone and never to be found.

**Washington, DC**

**Cadmus headquarters**

Waller walked into her office and immediately noted a package on her desk, checking the package she found a letter from General Sam Lane saying she won. She opened the package and almost instantly, a smug grin appeared on her face.

Sitting down Waller picked up her phone "Felix Faust, tell your Masters I have the item"


	7. Chapter 7

**Seattle**

It seemed like yesterday because it was yesterday, that he found his reason to kill without a contract. He knew who did it the moment he heard that dreaded song playing over the PA system in a loop, O Death by Jen Titus. In the lobby, he saw the first victim, Beast Boy, his entire spinal column split in two. The killer was not even there for more than half a second. Poor boy never stood a chance. The second victim at least saw it coming, the look on her face said as much. Her hands were teleported into her throat, fingers sticking out.

He had seen and done many horrible things over the years but what came next was unlike anything he had seen before. There they were, hanging from the ceiling, Red Robin, Wonder Girl and Super Boy teleported into one misshapen body. The disgust he felt made him throw up, he knew the killer was off kilter but this going too far even for her.

Then he saw her, the reason he flew half way across the world, he was never father of the year. A 'worst father in the world' mug is the most he would get, but he was still a father and would do what a father had to do for his kids. At this moment that meant vengeance, she lasted the longest, fought to her last breath but her opponent was merely toying with her.

This was amusement and nothing more, even him finding the bodies was amusement, the killer wanted him to find the bodies, he was the real target. He knew there would not even be any trace of the kids if they were the target. It was all for him, he was the reason she was dead, the killer wanted it to be personal, wanted him to give it his all.

_"Well, be careful what you wish for"_ He thought as he made it to the warehouse where the killer was waiting.

**The Fortress**

Kal could guess what Zatanna wanted, it had been a week and two days since they last had a moment to be alone and in this time, he thought long and hard about what she asked him, who is Kal-El? He concluded that primarily, he was a Kryptonian and nothing, even losing is powers, would not change that. Secondly, he was a man of good morals, one who would protect his loved ones no matter what and if others needed his help he would give it, but they should not expect him to solve all their problems. After all, he thought to himself, I'm not a god, just a man with extraordinary gifts.

The news of Lois Lane's death did not help, Perry White demanded that Clark Kent be at the funeral but Kal declined because he was still in his exile. It was not as if he did not want to go, Lois was a colleague, but he did not interact with her much outside of being superman. Not that she made it easy, running from one dangerous story to the next with never a thought of her own safety. This was all right at first, damsel in distress type stuff, but then she started getting into ever more dangerous situations as time went on and it started getting irritating but she soon stopped after Diana saved and berated her for wasting time that could have been used to aid people that actually needed saving.

Reaching the door his mind focused on the woman in his bedroom. Walking in he noticed that she had switched on the red sun emitters and he felt her cast a spell that drained the solar energy in his cells, weakening him. Even without his powers, he was still stronger than a human was, but he was not worried she was a homo magi, they were practically equal now. It would not be the first time they slept together. The first time was 7 years ago, but it was all lust and happened once. They never said a word of it since, they never thought of it as a mistake; they enjoyed it and just never felt the need to speak about it.

**Seattle**

He found her, Sakatumi Hinjew; wearing only her ordinary black armour, no holograms, her true face visible. He knew what this was, a final show down, no guns, no tech, just blades. Dropping his other weapons, he unsheathed his katana and walked up to her. Standing just a few meters from her, he waited as she unsheathed her twin daggers.

Then, as if on cue, they charged each other, blades clashing repeatedly, he pressed forward, keeping her on the retreat, he struck with full force, forcing her to block with both blades, each impact rippled through her arms. He saw her losing pace with his blows; he kept going waiting for one moment of missed timing.

**The Fortress**

A playful hungry smile was on her lips, her violet blue eyes gazing into his crystalline blue eyes. Drops of sweat fell from his chin to her neck, mixing with her own, just as they had been mixing with each other. She rhythmically rolled her hips ever so slightly, causing a groan to rumble through his throat.

Brushing a stray lock of her hair, his fingertips left a trail of goosebumps along her cheek. Her lips quivered with a tempting need, he could not resist and claimed them, her fingers firmly and gently grasped his think, black hair, as she responded to his lips on hers.

**Seattle**

She knew she could not keep this up for much longer, she was a quick kill fighter and she needed to end this soon. He made his move, instead of a hard forward strike, a side slash came, ducking into a roll she went under the blade and came up behind him. She went for his heart but he turned faster than anticipated forcing her to again retreat from his attacks. The strike knocked her back, sending her sliding on her feet; she cursed herself for underestimating him, reminding herself of whom she was fighting, she kicked into high gear.

She made a swipe with her left dagger, he blocked and her right came up immediately after slashing his left forearm, his armour stopped her from cutting it off. No sound, not even a grunt, just a blade swinging down towards her shoulder, she shifted but not far enough. Like his, her armour allowed only a slash but unlike him, she growled in pain. She had to ignore the pain, but she wasted time with the growl, his blade swiped upwards across her chest. She fell on her back looking up and she saw him coming, she rolled out the way getting her footing, she stood up.

**The Fortress**

The bed creaked as if it could not handle the stress of their bodies working in unison; it seemed they learned each other's wants and needs from their last tryst. Her soft silk like leg rose up and wrapped around his waist crossing over her other leg; she held his shoulders with all her strength, for him this signalled that her climax was approaching.

She moaned as his lips moved along her jugular, hands along her sides, one on her hip the other around one of her breasts, her nipple throbbed as his thumb circled it. Feeling the rush, she bit into his shoulder trying to stave it off for a moment longer; she shifted lower, bringing him deeper within, they both felt as if there was not enough air in the room, as the climax approached.

**Seattle**

Cuts all over she was bleeding, losing her endurance, using what was left of her strength, she made one final desperate strike. She charged head on, he came in, left dagger blocked and slid across his blade, too fast for him to react she struck his heart with her right dagger, her left dagger swiped up slashing his head in half. He fell on her; she growled in pain, pushing him off, her dagger was stuck in him, firmly lodged in his chest. She crawled towards the back of the warehouse, slowly taking of her armour along the way.

Reaching the end, she picked up a teleporter disk. Turning back she looked at him, she regretted fighting him, she made it through but he was too much for a straight up fight. Now she was questioning if she would live to see the Sun again. Pressing the button she teleported out along with the warehouse, it ended up in the Mariana tranche, she in a penthouse in the city with nothing but his helmet, her tank top, boy shorts and her phone. She sent a text to her employer before passing out.

**Deathstroke terminated**.

**The Fortress**

Zatanna lay on Kal's chest, his breathing was heavy, and the red sun emitters were still on. She was fascinated with his brand; her fingers had been tracing it since they stopped. Kal noted her interest in it, he wanted to ask if she wanted to know the story behind it but he was not really up for it. He switched off the emitters. Under the normal lights, it would take hours for his powers to return and he had to wait to get to the solar chamber, for he was currently in bed with a beautiful woman.

Studying her, he realised she was in love with him, he had wondered why she would stick around all these years. At first he thought it was because he rescued her but the debt was paid for a thousand times over. He thought it was their friendship but that did not seem right. Zatanna was there for everything, his first time out as Superman, his first real opponent Mongul, his encounter with Connor and then Tonya, even with the world's growing fear and mistrust of him she was still there. She never left him and he never wanted her to.

He was in love with her, but never really thought about it and now he had slept with her for the second time, but unlike the first time, this was not fuelled by lust. They were not taking pleasure; they were giving it to each other.

**Seattle**

Walking into his penthouse, he saw her, Sakatumi, lying in a puddle of her own blood. He rushed to her side, checking her pulse, it was weak but she was alive. He looked over her injuries, cuts along her arms, torso and back. He gently picked her up and made his way to the elevator, arriving at his infirmary, he got to work, bandaging what needed bandages and stitching what needed stitches. As he started setting up a blood transfusion and IV, she opened her eyes.

"Don't worry, Nora, I got you"

"Thank you, Ollie"


	8. Chapter 8

**Metropolis**

**An abandoned building**

Amanda Waller, leaning against an old desk, watched as Felix Faust set up a small cube, roughly the size of a normal rubrics cube, in the middle of the room. Faust tapped the cube in a series of patterns, as if he was putting in a code, before he placed the cube on the floor and leaving it there.

"This had better work, Faust. These so called meta-humans are a blight on the Earth," Waller stated as she followed Faust out the room

"Oh ye of little faith" Faust replied with a devilish grin "My master and his allies will deal with your troublesome heroes as per the deal and the world will be as it should be."

"So long as Superman is dealt with in the process"

"Oh he is our top priority, as of tomorrow the Man of Steel will be no more!" Faust declared as he walked out the building and disappeared into the morning crowd.

**Seattle**

It had been a long night for Oliver, first the usual midnight troublemakers then she shows up in the middle of his penthouse, bloody and half-dead. Making his way to the guest room, he had a million questions run through his mind each seeking an answer but only one was in the forefront, why did she come to him. Standing in front of the door Oliver took a deep breath, he was about to face the woman he had not seen in years. The last time being two years ago during a protection mission that went horribly wrong in every way it possibly could.

"Nora, we need to talk" Oliver said entering the room

The room was unnervingly clean, not even the housekeeper cleaned this well. He checked the room's en suit bathroom and walking closet and found nothing, Gone, no trace. With her injuries, she did not leave by her own choice someone took her. Oliver could not figure out whom but thought it must be who ever attacked her last night.

Picking up his phone Oliver called his secretary as he headed to his private elevator "Jen, hold my calls and move today's appointments, something personnel has come up"

**Keystone City**

Wally, wearing a plain white t-shirt and grey pyjama pants, sat on the patio in his back yard having breakfast with Shayera, who was wearing one of his button up shirts. There had not been any major activity in the city in the past months so they decided to spend the day together. The lack of criminal activity brought many questions up for Shayera, she had been wondering why it had been so quiet of late and if it had any connection with the assassin.

"Wally" Shayera said softly

"Yeah"

"Have you noticed that in the past few months, we haven't been interrupted when we're out on our dates or just spending time together?"

"Nope but come to think of it, yeah we haven't been interrupted lately" Wally replied with a sudden realisation

"Do you know why we haven't been interrupted?" Shayera asked staring at him intensely

"I can't say I have a clue" Wally shrugged

"Our usual enemies are dead, Wally, that's why"

Wally tilted his head looking at Shayera; he could not deny that since most of their enemies' deaths things had been calm around the city and surrounding areas.

"Are you saying their deaths had a direct impact on the crime rate in Keystone?" Wally asked rhetorically, as he already knew the answer

"Yes and do you know who is responsible for that?" Shayera asked leaning closer to Wally "The assassin, ever since she showed up, Keystone's crime rate has dropped because all the criminals responsible for it are dead"

"Yeah but she's still a criminal, she killed J'onn, the teen titans and so many other good guys" Wally retorted not liking where Shayera was going with this.

"I know and I miss them all" Shayera replied leaning back into her chair "But you can't deny that with our enemies gone our lives have been a lot easier"

"So what are you saying that we should start killing our enemies?" Wally asked jumping ahead to the inevitable point of the conversation.

"What? No" Shayera replied taken a back she was not expecting this, "I mean before the killings how often did we have a nights like last night? With our enemies gone life is better and people are safe"

"Because the villains are dead"

"Yeah, but I'm not saying we should start killing our enemies. We have a code about that"

"But you're not fully invested in it?"

"No" Shayera admitted, "I just think that what we do has become a game"

"A game?" Wally asked confused

"A bad guy shows up, we fight, bad guy goes to prison, bad guy escapes, we repeat the process" Shayera explained, "It's a revolving door. An insult to Justice and a nightmare for the civilians who get caught up in this sick twisted game. I am Glad that for once the villains are all dead and the citizens are resting easy."

"I don't think it's that simple"

"Really, how many times have you fought captain cold, just to have him show up a month later?"

"We still shouldn't kill. We're trying to set an example "Wally replied feeling uncomfortable with this

"I know that, Wally, but what message do you think people are getting?" Shayera asked intently "People have been complaining that we're useless and don't achieve anything** because** **our enemies keep coming back**, like sickos that are in it for the pleasure of fighting us or something"

"So what do you suggest then?" Wally asked giving up

"I don't know, be a little rougher?" Shayera offered

"Rougher, like beat them to a bloody pulp?" Wally asked with a smirk and arching an eyebrow "Cause from what I hear Bruce does that and he's not fairing any better than we fair"

"Yeah but he's just guy in a bat suit" Shayera countered, "Think of the impact us actual super powered heroes could have if we got rougher. The image of fear would be lot more real coming from us than a guy in Halloween costume"

Wally frowned, as he remained silent; he did not know what to think.

"All I'm saying is we should be more intimidating to our foes, make them **think** we will kill" Shayera said looking at Wally as he contemplated her words

**Gotham**

**Wayne Industries**

Feeling refreshed and full of energy after another quite night at home and getting some much-needed sleep, in one of his best Armani suits, Bruce headed to his office in a surprisingly good mood. Arriving at his floor, he happily greeted everyone he met.

"No messages for you, Mr Wayne" his secretary, Mary, informed him.

"Thank you, Mary" Bruce replied with a charming smile "And how many times must I ask you to call me Bruce"

"I'm still working on that, Mr Wayne" Mary replied returning a smile

Entering his office Bruce thought nothing could ruin this day. Then he noticed a box on his coffee table. Walking up to it, he wondered where it came from; picking it up he felt the heaviness of the package. Setting it down he opened it and found, encased in amber, Killer Croc's head with note.

_Heard you were looking for Killer Croc_

_Well here he is, have fun interrogating him_

_Sent with love, Hinjew_

_In addition, here is a rap_

_**My Booty Shake Will Break Your Snake, **_

_**Twerkin so hard it cause a massive Earthquake,**_

_**Now I'm Killing so damn fast I think Death is about to Break,**_

_**Basically I am a house wife who knows how to kill**_

_**Better beware now hunting you is giving me a thrill.**_

_Peace, I dropped the mic_

Bruce slumped down on to his couch and gave a heavy sigh. She killed his only lead to finding her. Who was she, where did she come from, how was she doing this, these questions ran through Bruce's mind repeatedly but what he wanted to know was whom was she working for. Now it also seemed like she was taunting him with this sick twisted rapping and warning him that he will be assassinated. Who does this? What kind of a human being is she? It seemed the closer Bruce got the more dead ends he would find, he needed to find this woman and soon.

**Dark side of the Moon**

**ARMSTECH Private Labs**

In a sterile white room, an in-wall medical station beeps away as it monitors the patient's vitals. Sakatumi, laying in an amber coloured liquid solution, healing her injuries, lunges up screaming in shock and confusion as the tank opens up at the end of the healing cycle. After catching her breath, Sakatumi got out the tank and ran her fingers through her shoulder length black hair, shimmering with blue under tones, slicking it back, she then heard music, Beethoven - symphony No. 9 in D minor (ode to joy)

Looking up she saw her employer sitting patiently in a chair across the room. His muscular build in a handcrafted black tailored suit with a black shirt and tie. Across his charming but serious oblong face angular cheekbones and pointed chin, was a look of disappointment. Looking up at Sakatumi, he ignored her dripping wet sun kissed naked body, and with his ruby red eyes stared her dead in the eyes. This brought on a sense of foreboding for Sakatumi for she knew he was upset and the reason why.

"I can explain" Sakatumi said in a pleading tone, "I wanted to test myself against the best assassin I could think of but I never got chance until last night. I know how I went about it was risky; leaving the titans were anyone of their allies could have just come and found them. Facing off against Deathstroke in a sort of final showdown wasn't a great idea either but I had to try. I needed to see if I could beat DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR in a straight up battle. I am sorry for going off the normal procedure of elimination but I needed to fight him and yes I regret it."

He did not say word or show any sign of a reaction

"The thing with Oliver is also done," Sakatumi continued "and despite everything he won't be a problem. He will never find out anything about me. I mean if Batman can't how would Oliver?"

Still silent he stood up gave her a small smile and walked out the room. Sakatumi gave a sigh of relief as she realised that he forgave her. Looking around the room, she saw a large chest next to the chair her employer was sitting on. Opening the chest, she found her body armour, now with orange trims along the black plating, along with undergarments.

As Sakatumi put on her amour, Ms Lawson assistant head of ARMSTECH, a hazelnut eyed woman walked in the room, her circular facial features framed by her naturally curled long brunet hair, a white button shirt slightly hid her athletic frame, only her collar was undone hiding her full cleavage.

"Your awake and found your armour. Good" Lawson stated all official and cold "You'll find that your armour has been modified to with stand almost any type of atmosphere. From the deepest depths of the ocean to the cold vacuum of deep space to the overwhelming heat of a volcano. Your personal teleportation device, which is now in the base of your cerebral cortex, has been modified as well"

"Modified how?" Sakatumi asked

"You can teleport yourself and others at will to anywhere that you choose. Built in safety features will prevent you from destroying yourself with teleporting" Lawson replied, "Check the helmet"

Looking in the chest Deathstroke's helmet lay at the bottom. It still had the slash she made with her dagger running from the low cheek to just above the left eye socket. Taking a closer look, she found the helmet encased in a transparent protective casing and adjusted to fit a smaller head, like hers. Inside there was a re-breather and a small screen was fitted, where the right eye socked would be.

"The screen will give you the same peripheral view as an actual eye socket" Lawson explained, "Our employer didn't want us to change the look of the helmet just make it function better for you"

"Where are my daggers?"

"They have been replaced with two Japanese Tanto; each blade is made of an indestructible rare metal. Forged by Him personally with His Power, no Tech was used. They will cut through anything"

"Wow, where are they?"

"You'll get them tomorrow when your next assignment starts. Our employer says '**Do not** let this one get personal and enjoy the rest of your day off'" Lawson replied.

"He always had a soft spot for me," Sakatumi whispered with a smile, as Love lost by Mac Miller started playing "Oh I love this song and what a weird playlist"

**The Fortress**

**Central core**

Kal leaned against Kelex's core, which is the pod that brought him to Earth, arms crossed and head down he was deep in thought. Gathered around him are Barda and the holographic interfaces of Jor-El, Lara, Zod and Faora. Holographic screens with data on Tonya, the Trongar and the Dario floating in front of Kal.

"They will come for her" Zod declared, "Eventually they will learn of her presence here if they haven't already and come for her, you must prepare for battle"

"Prepare how Zod?" Lara asked, "They will send a fleet, as powerful as he is, Kal won't be able to beat those odds"

"Lara's right" Jor-El interjected "The best thing that can be done is to keep Tonya hidden"

"Why do we even care of what happens to the child?" Faora asked

"Because she is, for all intensive purposes, Kal's child" Barda replied,

"And not only that, the Dario would use her as a living weapon if they find her" Jor-El added, "She would be at the forefront of their mission to conquer the Galaxy. You were once sworn to prevent that Faora"

"You mean the woman whose consciousness I am modelled after was sworn to prevent that but I will do what I can to prevent the Dario from taking over" Faora replied

"What's preventing them now?" Barda asked

"The Lantern Corps took up the duty after Krypton's destruction" Kelex replied, "They have done well but the Lanterns are barely keeping the Dario at bay, a few worlds have fallen under the Dario Empire before the Lanterns halted their progress"

Barda noted Kal's silence "Anything to add Kal?"

"When they arrive, they will attack the humans in the hopes of flushing Tonya out or making me give her up" Kal replied still deep in thought

"So what is our course of action?" Barda asked, "Are going to try and convince them to leave her alone?"

"Or convince them she is not on the planet" Lara added

"Both sound ideas but they will be difficult to accomplish" Jor-El replied, "The Dario aren't known for being easily convinced to give up a mission"

"It's still worth a try," Lara countered

"Perhaps but it is foolish to believe they would listen" Zod replied

Lara stared daggers at Zod he was not fazed

"Are you going to inform Mistress Zatanna of the Dario?" Kelex asked

"I'll tell her later tonight" Kal replied

"Before or after you copulate" Barda jokingly asked

Kal just stared at the floor

"Before? That's bold," Barda said with smirk

"You should inform her as soon as possible," Zod interjected "Her skills will be useful, it is better she know now than when they arrive."

"Agreed, it will give her a chance to prepare for battle properly," Faora said bluntly

"Well, I can see why you added them" Kal said mockingly looking up at Jor-El

"Their military expertise is invaluable to you Kal," Jor-El replied, "If you had been taking our advice from the very beginning you would have seen just how valuable they really are and the planet would be by your side to aid you now"

"I don't want to rule them," Kal countered

"I never suggested that," Jor-El shot back "What I am saying is that you should make them **all** your allies but you never listened"

"It's still not too late," Lara interjected "We can still turn this around, get the humans to trust you again,"

"If they ever have," Faora added

"I suppose we could start with lessons in strategy," Zod said

"And negotiation" Jor-El added

"Additional combat lessons wouldn't hurt" Faora added

"Enough of this," Barda spoke up with a barely hidden fury "You've made your point; we are here for the child not Kal. Tonya is already staying here to be trained and educated, once the Dario are dealt with, Kal and Zatanna will discuss what is to happen next."

"Why just them?" Faora asked

"As far as anyone is concerned, Tonya is their child and as such any decision of her well being is theirs to make" Barda replied

"Very well, that concludes this meeting then" Zod said

"Yes, we will continue this discussion once Zatanna is brought up to speed" Barda added

The holographic interface dissipated, Barda slowly left the room leaving Kal behind, staring at a holographic screen with a picture of Tonya, as he silently contemplated what to do next.

**Washington, DC**

**The Hall of Justice**

At the foot of the stairs to the Hall of Justice Faraday stood silently, listening to his surroundings and watching the world pass him by. General Lane pulled up in his military Humvee. Faraday slightly taken aback by the Generals sudden appearance wondered why Lane would come all the way from Metropolis to Washington.

_"A phone call would have been easier,"_ Faraday thought

"Faraday" Lane greeted

"Lane" Faraday replied, "You know that's not very environmentally friendly?"

"Global warming's not real" Lane replied coldly

"If you say so," Faraday chuckled "in any case Waller has made her move. I suggest increasing readiness level of the troops in Metropolis. Things are liable to get interesting very soon".

"What of Superman? You said if I gave Waller what she wanted, he would return"

"He will, if my estimations are right, which they are, he'll show up tomorrow, he won't have a choice"

"Why is that" Lane asked finding himself curious

"Because the woman he loves will be in danger," Faraday said with sadness in his voice, "You don't have to do this you know, you can take some time off, it would be completely understandable if you did, I can take care of everything"

"No, I need to keep working, I've done my mourning"

"Alright, well here, this will get you in contact with Colonel Trevor" Faraday said handing over a communicator, "He'll be waiting for your go ahead tomorrow, along with a platoon of A.R.G.U.S. soldiers just outside the CADMUS HQ"

"So this is it?" Lane asked looking at the communicator, "After tomorrow, Waller is done for and Superman comes back"

"That's the plan"

The two men stood silently as Lane joined Faraday in listening to the surroundings and watching the world pass them by.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Feel free to review as the story progresses; I would like to know your thoughts on the story.<strong>_

_**Please, no rude or overly harsh reviews, opinions are welcome but there is no need to be aggressive about delivering them.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**I got your message loud and clear, Supabec, I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

**Metropolis**

**New Troy, midtown**

Zatanna, in a white S shield t-shirt with a leather jacket, black jeans and flats, got off the elevator on the floor of Clark's old apartment, walking down the hallway, her mind was occupied with thoughts of what Kal had told her about the Dario and them possibly coming for Tonya. She was still a bit bitter that she was not part of the initial meeting but appreciated that Kal told her about it as soon as possible, pushing the thoughts out of her mind; she knocked on the door of the apartment.

As the door opened the 17-year-old, 6-foot Metropolis Bulldogs linebacker, Billy Batson appeared, in black sneakers, pale jeans and blue Bulldogs team shirt, across his mildly handsome face was a tired bored look, his hair a bedevilled mess that he did not even try to fix. Zatanna stared at Billy, as he stepped past her, marvelled by how much like his alter ego he looked.

"Are you coming?" Billy asked noticing Zatanna had not moved "We got a lot of shopping to do"

"What, oh, right with you" Zatanna replied regaining her focus "Are you alright? You look really tired"

"Just had a long night studying" Billy replied walking down the hallway "Plus I had practice earlier this morning but I'm good, just need some coffee before we get to the stores"

"Oh, so I take it varsity life is going well for you?"

"Well, I have a slight advantage in that I got some residual effects from Sha... the wizards' magic in my normal form"

"Are you saying you got your powers all the time now?"

"No, what I mean is I've got a fraction of the abilities, I'm no super soldier or anything just slightly stronger than a guy of my physical build. It seems the closer I get to the age that I look as Captain Thunder, the stronger I get" Billy explained

"Captain Thunder, is that your new name?" Zatanna asked as they reached the elevator doors

"I wanted a name that I could actually use without changing and that matched with the whole lighting thing" Billy replied as he pressed the down button for the elevator

"Thunder comes after the lighting, nice" Zatanna mused

"I think so," Billy said with smile as he let Zatanna enter the elevator first

Getting off on the garage level Billy and Zatanna made their way to his car, a red 2007-dodge charger.

"Nice car, where did you get it?" Zatanna asked

"Clark asked Faraday to get me a car," Billy replied getting in "I was expecting some old beat up car then this came. Speaking of, Faraday he didn't happen to ask you to come by and check on me did he?"

"No, he asked Kal to ask me" Zatanna replied fastening her seat belt "But I want your help with carrying the supplies we're buying"

"Ok, well, tell them I'm doing alright and not to worry so much" Billy said starting the car

**Metropolis**

**Suicide Slums**

The small cube, Faust left yesterday, rose up into the air and stared to spin, splitting apart. After a few seconds a boom tube opened, out of which Kalibak and Steppenwolf exited with a hoard of Para-demons flying out and smashing through the building onto the streets, chaos ensued as citizens fled the mass of Para-demons.

"BRING ME THE KRYPTONIAN!" Kalibak roared as he flipped a car across the street "I shall deliver his head to lord Darkseid proving my worth once and for all"

**Themyscira**

In the centre of the large throne room, Felix Faust was drawing power from the natural magic deep within the island, as he recited a summoning spell, moment after moment it got harder to keep hold of the power. Faust saw the summoning working as a figure started to form in front of the throne, sandaled feet followed by leg greaves, a white above the knee tunic under a muscle cuirass breastplate with horned shoulder pads and a rams head on the front, a fur lined white cape draped behind. Then the full black bearded, longhaired, rounded with dark brown eyes face of Ares appeared.

"Through the ages, man has moved on and left the amazons behind" Ares mused as he headed towards the doors, "You have done well, Faust"

"Thank you my lord, I do aim to please" Faust replied following Ares like a lost puppy

Stepping outside the royal palace, Ares looked over the deserted Amazon settlement and mused to himself "After all this time, the Amazons have not even made a single advancement, staying stagnant in fear of a single moment. What have they achieved by staying here and training for a battle that would never come? What bravery have they shown by hiding like cowards on this island? For all their talk of being great warriors, they have done nothing but hide from the world"

"They are gone now my lord, what does it matter if they are not even here?" Faust asked confused by Ares musing

"It matters because I have brought them back," Ares replied with a devilish grin "They will prove to me that they are brave enough to go into the world of man and actually face their so called foes instead of hiding on an island that the world has forgotten and ignored"

Pockets of smoke appeared along the centre courtyard of settlement, Amazons started coming out of the smoke pockets, fully armoured carrying spears and shields, at the head, stood Queen Hippolyta, in golden armour and brandishing a razor sharp long sword.

"Amazons, prepare to march at dusk where upon you will prove your loyalty and bravery by delivering vengeance upon the world of man," Ares commanded "After which I shall cleanse it of its evil and raise a world fit for my rule, were the strong will thrive and the weak will die"

"HAIL ARES" The Amazons cried

"My lord, danger approaches" Faust warned

"Who dares to oppose me here?" Ares demanded

"Athena and her daughter, my lord, they even brought The Amazons former General, Phillipus and a man named King Faraday" Faust replied

"Athena" Ares said with disdain

**Metropolis**

**New Troy, Downtown**

"Hurry" Zatanna yelled

"I'm doing the best I can, in the given the situation" Billy yelled back as he drove as fast he could in the chaotic traffic

"Do better; we need to get there now!"

"Well, call your boyfriend; he is faster than a speeding bullet"

"Funny you should say that, he is actually my boyfriend now," Zatanna suddenly said calmly

"Really, I thought you guys were practically married when we first met" Billy replied surprised

The car came to a screeching halt on the pavement in front of Centennial Park

"Cut through the park," Billy instructed as he got out of the car, almost ripping the door off its hinges

"Good thinking" Zatanna said following Billy "Could you slow down, my boyfriend is the one that outruns bullets"

"Could have fooled me with that shirt"

Reaching the other side of the park, Zatanna and Billy found General Lane and A.R.G.U.S. personnel engaged in a ruthless battle with Kalibak, who is using cars as shields as he just discovered his invulnerability does not extend to armour piercing rounds. Steppenwolf had engaged the army, as they try to keep the Para-demons away from local emergency responders who are evacuating civilians.

A thunderous clap made Zatanna jump in fright, looking at where Billy was standing she saw him in a red coatee with gold trims and a large lightning bolt on the front, white pants with gold lines along the side and black boots. After a second Zatanna realised this is Captain Thunder, not only did Billy change his name, he changed his look.

"Find out where they're coming from and see if you can stop more from coming in" Thunder told Zatanna

"Right, it looks like their coming out of that building" Zatanna replied

"Get to it, I'll deal with what looks to be the leaders" Thunder said before flying off after Steppenwolf

**Keystone**

Wally lay in bed with Shayera straddling him, slowly increasing in speed as she rolled her hips; he still wondered how he could be so lucky. As she rode them both to an orgasm, her wings expanded, planting a hand on the wall Shayera's moaning changed into breathless screams, her wings started flapping, as Wally, focusing on her greens eyes, fought to keep her on him. Reaching the climax, Shayera threw her head and let out one final loud moan before collapsing on Wally, her wings slowly folding back.

"Wings... Flapping... New" Wally said excused

"I had no idea that would happen" Shayera chuckled

"Well, I'm glad I could take you to new heights," Wally said as his League communicator beeped

"Don't answer it" Shayera pleaded with annoyance

"You know they'll send an A.R.G.U.S squad here if I don't" Wally replied placing an earpiece in his ear "Flash here, what? Ugh, ok I'll be there is sec"

"Who's back for another round?" Shayera asked increasingly annoyed

"Got some kind of invasion in Metropolis, I'm going to help with evac, Captain Thunder is on scene" Wally replied before changing into his Flash suit

"Oh, that's different" Shayera said getting out of bed, "I'll meet you there"

"Look on the bright side, we actually finished this time around" Wally replied before blurring out the room, leaving Shayera to chuckle to herself and wondering why she loves him.

**The Fortress**

**Level five, Phantom Zone chamber**

Checking the integrity of the phantom zone cube, this looks like a runic Rubik's cube, suspended over a dark icy chasm by a four-pronged grip. Kal diligently repairs a small crack on its surface.

"What's the status of the prisoners?"

"Inactive. Stasis pods are fully functional, all occupants accounted for" Kelex replied

"Have you discovered how this crack occurred?" Kal asked

"Yes, the incident occurred during the tremor that occurred two minutes ago, it shook the fortress and dislodged a crystal formation which hit the phantom cube, alterations to prevent effects from future tremors have been implemented" Kelex answered

"Should have used a tougher alloy for the cube," Kal said, putting the cube back in its holder

"Or you should prevent Tonya from having a temper tantrum" Kelex rebuffed

"Well, that's why Zatanna is in Metropolis" Kal replied floating down towards the exit

"All this for candy" Kelex said "Perhaps she should be weaned off them"

"She a five year old, candy is what they eat" Kal replied as he entered the elevator

"She could be the first not to" Kelex countered

"Are you really that sensitive about a little tremor?"

"How would you like it if a child like Tonya had a tantrum in your body?"

Before Kal could answer, Barda appeared, as the elevator doors opened

"Kal, there is a boom tube in Metropolis, some area called Suicide slums," Barda said with both excitement and worry

"You don't think it's..."

"I don't know we must go there now" Barda interrupted

"Wait, I have news reports" Kelex interjected "it would seem Earth is being invaded by Apokolips"

"Zatanna" Kal said before grabbing Barda and flying out the fortress at supersonic speeds

Over the Atlantic Kal contacted Kelex "Send Krypto, tell him to come as fast as he can and look after Tonya"

**Themyscira**

Athena, Diana and Phillipus walked along the beach, enjoying the quiet day, they were surprised to see Faraday waiting by the foot of the path leading towards the settlement, he had an intense look on his face and all three instantly knew something was gravely wrong.

"Faraday, what's the matter?" Diana asked

"I tracked down a powerful Homo Magi, who goes by the name Felix Faust here" Faraday explained, "I think he's trying to summon someone or something to this world. I know I shouldn't be here but the safety of Earth is more important than man's presence here, as I'm sure you would agree"

"The old laws no longer apply here, Faraday, even if they did there's no one to enforce them" Phillipus replied with a small and quick smile "Now, take us to this Felix Faust, so we may dispense of him and whatever evil he seeks to bring to the world"

"He has already accomplished his goal, I can sense Ares, he's in the royal palace" Athena informed "Prepare yourself Phillipus, for you will face your sisters, to save them you must kill them"

"I understand" Phillipus replied steeling herself

"Then let us proceed with haste, we must end whatever foul deed he plans to unleash upon the world" Diana said as she spun into her Wonder Woman battle armour

"Right with you" Faraday replied locking and loading his gun

**Metropolis**

**New Troy, Suicide slums**

Thunder, using a powerful lightning blast, sent Kalibak slamming into Steppenwolf and across six blocks crashing in Centennial Park. Thunder then unleashed a lighting cloud above the city, electrocuting thousands of Para-demons turning them into scorched bits, as they fell from the sky ,Thunder flew to re-engage Kalibak and Steppenwolf.

Shaking back into focus Steppenwolf pushed Kalibak off him making Kalibak groan. Standing up, a lighting fuelled punch to the face greeted Kalibak, after which Steppenwolf received an elbow to the nose breaking it. Thunder shifted his focus back to Kalibak but received a heavy uppercut sending him flipping backwards across the park, quickly getting up Thunder faced his adversaries.

"You are not the Kryptonian," Kalibak stated angrily

"Didn't you get the memo?" Thunder asked as he charged his fists and slammed the ground sending a current of electricity through the ground electrocuting Kalibak and Steppenwolf, flying up then back down; thunder slammed them into the ground "He left"

**Themyscira**

Arriving at the settlement, the sight of the Amazon army greets Athena, Diana, Phillipus and Faraday; the Amazons glowing red eyes indicated that something was amiss with them. Athena flew into a rage, despite never agree with the Amazons isolation and views, they were her people, what Ares has done by bringing them back was a disgrace and insult for her and she would not let it stand.

"**ARES IS MINE,**" Athena declared as she cut a swath through the Amazon ranks

"Okay, I will go find Faust; his magic will be problematic in the long run" Faraday said running behind a building

Phillipus had already engaged the army taking down one Amazon after another, each of her killing blows burst an Amazon into a cloud of smoke, much to the relief of Phillipus as it meant they returned to Elysium. Diana engaged Hippolyta, in single combat, the old Queen showed why she had been picked to lead the warrior race, if any doubt had been in Diana's mind about Hippolyta's skill in battle they were long gone now. Hippolyta gave no quarter and pushed Diana to her absolute limits of her skill and strength.

"You are a disgrace to everything the Amazons stand for," Hippolyta roared

"What you stand for denies you true freedom and happiness and is mired in fear and distrust" Diana retorted, "You could have faced your abuse and lived normal lives, found love, had children, families. The world is not as evil as you make it out to be"

"You know not what you speak of" Hippolyta countered, "You've never experienced what we went through"

"True, I have not experienced the abuse set upon you" Diana admitted "But I have met women who have and each one managed to overcome their hardships to find love and form a family. What have you done, except wallow in the memory of a single event? The women of the world are much stronger than any Amazon by virtue of facing and overcoming their abuses"

"RAAAAA" Hippolyta roared in rage intensifying her attacks

**Metropolis**

**New Troy, Suicide slums**

In a back alley, Zatanna found a back entrance to the building that the Para-demons had come from; entering, she heard a low rumble from a room ahead of her. Peaking in the room, she saw the bright light of the boom tube and the spinning pieces of the mother box, figuring that the pieces are creating the boom tube, Zatanna tried to think of a way to stop it.

"tlem gninnips seceip" Zatanna recited

Flames soared from her hands and formed a ring of fire around the boom tube enveloping the spinning pieces, Zatanna stepped into the room to take a closer look at what was happening to the pieces. Then a metal band came ripping through the tube hitting Zatanna in the chest sending her into the wall, through the next room and out on to street crashing into a car, surviving the crash, due to being a Homo Magi, Zatanna looked up painfully to see three women walking out the building.

Leshina, the obvious leader, wearing a skin-tight black leather body suit with a metal mask showing only her eyes and mouth had metal bands wrapped around her arms and hanging loss on her sides, stared at, a broken and bleeding, Zatanna like a predator before a kill. Mad Harriet, a yellow skinned, wild long green haired woman, wearing a silver chest plate, a knee length loincloth and metal claws on her fingers, joined Leshina, scraping the ground as she crept closer. Stompa, a 5'8 large woman, wearing a yellow body suit with orange armour plates and boots, her black hair tied in a tight pony tail, stayed by the building, a look of content was stamped on her square pointed chin face.

As Harriet leapt, at Zatanna, a high intensity heat blast sent her crashing down the street. Leshina, watching Harriet burn, did not notice Big Barda flying in and kick her in the face, slamming Lashina into the ground cracking the street on impact. Stompa stunned by what was happening to her comrades and the sudden appearance of her former leader, only had a second to put up her arm as Krypto lunged at her. Krypto cleanly bit off her arm and tossed it to the side. As Stompa screamed in pain, Krypto pushed her into the building and began tearing her apart, closer in nature to a wolf when it came to those he did not trust or those who hurt members of "The Pack".

Kal landed beside Zatanna, using his 'x-ray' vision he saw several broken bones and internal bleeding.

"I need to get you to the fortress," Kal said as he started to pick her up

"NO" Zatanna protested, "Help Billy, I just need to concentrate long enough to teleport myself"

"But..."

"JUST GO, I can make it" Zatanna interjected

Kal reluctantly activated his S shield; the biotech encased him in blue armour with red boots, belt and cape. Looking back down at Zatanna, he saw her focusing as hard as possible, recited a spell and disappeared in ball of light. With Zatanna gone, Kal flew into the park to find Billy holding his own, possibly having the upper hand, as he battled both Kalibak and Steppenwolf. Flying in, Kal tackled Steppenwolf, dragging him along the ground. Kal picked up Steppenwolf and flung him towards Thunder, who grabbed Kalibak around the waist and flew him into Steppenwolf, knocking both of them out.

"Thanks" Thunder said

"I don't think I did much, you seemed to have had things under control" Kal replied

"I guess, but I never turn down a helping hand"

Back on the street, Barda kneed Leshina in the chin before strangling her with her metal bands. Leshina flailed around, scratching Bardas arms, but Barda stood fast pulling the bands tighter until Leshina's neck snapped and her body fell limp. Hearing Krypto's low growls, Barda turned around and noticed his white fur covered in blood splatter.

"I see you took care of them," Kal said walking up carrying Kalibak and Steppenwolf on his shoulders

"They had it coming," Barda replied coldly as she dragged lashina's body "What is Zatanna's condition?"

"Kelex, did Zatanna make it to the Fortress?" Kal asked as he watched Barda picked up as severely burned Mad Harriet

_"Yes, I have transferred her to the medical bay and began operating" _Kelex replied in the armour comms_ "Damage is significant but she will survive"_

Kal let out a heavy sigh of relief "She'll be fine"

"I'm glad to hear to that" Barda replied with same relief as Kal

"Krypto could you head back to the fortress and watch over Zatanna and Tonya?" Kal asked

Krypto nodded and blurred away

"Alright it's now or never," Kal said, looking at the boom tube

"Now it is then" Barda replied walking towards the tube "Let us be quick and hopefully we'll return in time for Zatanna's recovery"

"Wait, you're leaving?" Thunder asked stunned "But you just got here"

"Barda and I have some unfinished business with these people," Kal replied following Barda "We can talk when I get back"

Thunder stood perplexed as Barda and Kal disappeared into to the boom tube before it closed moments later.

**Themyscira**

After effortlessly cutting through the Amazon guard, Athena broke down the large heavy doors of the throne room, with her sword, forged by Hephaestus, in hand, Athena readied herself for battle. Ares sat on the throne, Faust standing by his side, with a smug grin on his face.

"YOU DARE TO DEFILE THE DEAD, IS NOTHING BENEATH YOU ARES?" Athena roared with rage

"HAHAHA, I have given them purpose, sister, they will finally put their years of training to use and show the world that they are true warriors" Ares replied standing up "This world will be mine, sister, Leave now. Take your daughter and go back to Olympus before I leave you alive, long enough to see your mortal love die by my hand"

"YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND HIM FIRST AND THIS WORLD WILL NOT BE YOURS," Athena roared

With bursts of super speed, Athena and Ares charged at each other, while Ares pulled out his war hammer. As they clashed in a thunderous collision in the centre of the room, Faust watched from the throne, a happy smile formed on his face, believing Ares will win. Faraday, having snuck in, made his way behind Faust, took aim and shot him twice in the heart and once in the head; this distracted Ares, an opportunity Athena took full advantage of and sliced Ares in two, a slash from the right shoulder to the left lower abdomen.

"Well, that was easy" Faraday said standing over Faust

"You wouldn't say that if you were the one fighting Ares," Athena countered with a smile

"Good thing I wasn't or things would have been a lot worse" Faraday replied with a charming smile

"Lets us go and check on the others" Athena chuckled

**Dark side of the Moon**

**ARMSTECH living quarters**

Lawson's phone rang, rousing her from her slumber, she grumpily answered it, after listening for a moment; her face went from foggy to eyes wide-open instantly. Sitting up, ignoring the covers falling off her naked body, she looked towards the window where her employer, wearing only pyjama pants, was silently standing looking out into the void of space.

"Ares has orchestrated an attack on Metropolis, our agents say, he was going to use Apokoliptians to deal with the Earth heroes. After which, he was going to lead an Amazon army to conquer the world." Lawson informed putting her phone down, "This is a direct violation of your agreement with Zeus"

He straightened up and held his hands behind his back

"Should I get a team ready for transport to Olympus?" Lawson asked

He shook his head

"Very well, I'll inform Hinjew of her new assignment after her current one is completed" Lawson said bitterly

Turning around at her bitterness, he walked towards her; Lawson looked away. Reaching the bed he sat next to her as she pulled up her knees to her chin, still avoiding eye contact. Placing his hand on her cheek, the warmth of his palm felt so soothing Lawson leaned into it.

"I hate your preferential treatment of her and I just don't understand why you like her so much" Lawson confessed, "She is utterly unpredictable and a major risk to our long term goals"

Taking his hand away from her cheek, He made a picture appear in his hand, Lawson's jaw dropped at the sight of it.

**Themyscira**

"I should have been a stricter mother to you," Hippolyta roared

Diana swung her sword with full force, making Hippolyta drop hers, using her sword Diana lifted Hippolyta's and threw it to her, before embedding her own into the ground. Deflecting Hippolytas strikes, Diana grabbed her sword arm then broke it by the elbow and lifted her up by the neck before slamming Hippolyta in the ground.

"You always forgot, Hippolyta, that I have the wisdom, courage, strength and skill of Athena" Diana finally replied before impaling Hippolyta with her own sword "For I am, in every way, my mother's daughter of which you are not"

As Hippolyta disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Diana dislodged her sword and sheathed it, with all the Amazons gone, Athena and Faraday come by along with Phillipus, who was bandaging a cut on her arm.

"Well, as fun as this was, I believe, it's time for me to go" Faraday announced

"Where are you headed?" Athena asked

"Metropolis" Faraday replied

"Well, allow me to take you there and thank you for your aid" Athena said as she waved her hand, teleporting Faraday "I heard what you said to Hippolyta, Diana"

"It's the truth" Diana replied

"I know but I want you to remember that your spirit is your fathers," Athena said softly "and so are your eyes"

"What about her stubbornness?" Phillipus jokingly asked

"I have no idea where that came from" Athena replied

"Oh ha-ha, very funny" Diana interjected "I'll have you know I'm not as stubborn as I used to be"

After a moment of silence Phillipus spoke up "I believe it is time for me to move on from this place"

"Oh" Diana said in shock

"Yes, it is time for me rejoin the world of man" Phillipus stated "I heard what you said to Hippolyta , about abused women making their lives better and not hanging on to their past. I have long since come to terms with my past and now I seek to make a brighter future of my own"

"I'm sure Diana can help you with that," Athena said

"Of course," Diana replied with a bit of excitement "Faraday can get the necessary paperwork and set you up anywhere you like"

"If it is no trouble, I would like to stay with you for a time," Phillipus requested, "It would be easier to acclimate with someone who is familiar with the world"

"I would be honoured" Diana replied with gentle smile

"Then let us be off, for the island will be no more once we leave" Athena declared "No point to a hidden island with no one on it"

In flash of light, the three women disappeared and the island sunk and crumbled into the sea.

**Metropolis**

**New Troy, Suicide slums**

The military had formed a perimeter around Centennial Park, with the battle now over A.R.G.U.S and emergency personnel, with the aid of Wally and Shayera, began recovery efforts and searches for any injured and trapped civilians.

General Lane started receiving reports of Superman joining the battle towards the end, along with reports of a large woman in a red t-shirt with jean cut-offs and some kind of giant white wolf accompanying him. The news of Kal disappearing into the boom tube made Lane worry a little, but Lane figured that he was going to end the invasion at the source.

Picking up the communicator Faraday gave him, Lane contacted Colonel Trevor "Colonel, are you in position?"

_"Yes but we have a problem" _Trevor replied,_ "CADMUS is gone"_

"What do you mean gone?" Lane asked confused

_"The building disappeared, sir, one minute it was here the next it was gone"_ Trevor clarified

"How is that even possible, how could this have happened?"

_"My guess is the person we have been hunting for the past year, the woman who killed your daughter"_ Trevor replied referring to Sakatumi _"She left a not so subtle clue"_

"Tell Faraday I need to see him," Lane ordered

_"He'll meet you at the daily planet, Perry White's office"_


	10. Chapter 10

**Metropolis**

**Daily Planet, Perry's Office**

Looking out the window Faraday watched as the city reacted to the invasion, citizens calling their loved one, sirens blaring and emergency personnel trying to bring order to the chaos. Oliver leaned against a self, arms folded, listing to Perry arguing with Faraday, from his desk.

"You can't be serious, the people need to know that Kent is back," Perry said

"Is he back? Because I don't see him," Oliver interrupted "Sure he helped save the day but from what I'm hearing he was there for his own personal reasons and then scattered off with his friend and the bodies of the invaders"

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't report it" Perry shot back "the fact that his still out there will give people hope"

"Hope?" Oliver asked, "Did you forget it was the people that made him leave, out of fear, and now you're talking about him coming back to give them hope. If they wanted the hope he would bring they shouldn't have chased him away"

"Hey, that was because of what happened with Captain Atom and Waller" Perry shot back "Either way we need to publish this other media outlets will make it seem like he brought the invasion. Oliver, the reason you bought GBS when Morgan Edge died was to make sure the truth got out, by preventing the planet from reporting this you're allowing lies to cover the truth"

Faraday turned around, "Fine but don't pull a Lois and make it seem like his some messiah arc type, he hated that, so none of this hope bringer talk just say that he helped stop the invasion and make sure that everyone knows of Waller's involvement"

"That goes without saying" Perry replied picking up his phone "Tess, how's the story come? Good, play down the worship would you and get Olsen to hurry up with those pictures"

"Who's Tess?" Faraday asked

"Lutessa Baker, Our star reporter" Oliver replied "She's been here three years and beat Lois for top reporter two years ago, She's no one to worry about. So what's happening with the hero killer, any updates?"

"Yeah, the public is confused and scared about that" Perry added

"Nothing so far," Faraday replied, "she did kill Deathstroke, he was her last victim, and hero killer is a misnomer by the way"

"Wait, she killed Deathstroke, as in Deathstroke the terminator," Oliver asked shocked

"It wasn't easy but yeah tough nut that one" Faraday replied, "And no sign of her what so ever"

_"Mr White, I have a General Lane here to see you and Mr Faraday"_ Parry's assistant informed

"I seem to be very popular today," Perry said sarcastically

"His here for me, send him up, you'll want to hear this" Faraday replied looking at his phone

Lane charged in furious making a beeline for Faraday

"What the hell, Faraday, you said he'd come back" Lane yelled

"You didn't really think he'd come back in single day did you?" Faraday calmly replied, "These things take time, he will be back soon enough"

"Right" Lane agreed reluctantly "And Waller? CADMUS is gone"

"I know, I just received the report" Faraday replied as he sent Perry an email

"CADMUS is gone," Oliver asked skeptically

"I sense your skepticism, Oliver, but its true" Faraday replied, "Seems our hero killer is branching out"

"This is big news," Perry said reading the email, "We need to get ahead of this, publish it with the invasion story"

"What about the assassin?" Lane asked hiding a thinly veiled rage "We need to find her, who ever she is, she must answer for her crimes"

"Right, right, let's discuss this at the base" Faraday replied ushering Lane out "Oliver, I'll call you later"

"Can't wait" Oliver replied "So you got all the information you need, get Tess on it"

"She already is,"

**Earlier during the invasion**

**Metropolis outskirts**

**CADMUS LABS**

In a small interrogation room, four guards, dressed in black military gear, stood in each of the corners of the room, assault rifles at the ready. In the center, a scummy C.A.D.M.U.S special agent sat on a stool, drilled to the floor, across him, cuffed to the metal-topped concrete slab, is a sultry blonde woman, her face cut and bruised, the woman's focus was on her black dress, looking at its torn bits and completely uninterested in her captors.

"Not very talkative your friends" Said the agent

"They're not my friends" She replied still focused on her dress

"Really, then what were you doing with them when we caught you?" The agent asked leering at her

"They were just a complicated way for me to get in here" She replied look up to meet his eyes

"You want to be here?" The agent asked unnerved by her sinister smile

"That's what I implied" she replied her green eyes locked on his

"Why would you want to be here?" He asked straightening up in his stool

"I was told to be here" She replied shifting to match his posture, "It's part of my job"

"Your job, who are you?"

"It's still odd how no one cared who I was till heroes and villains started dying"

As the agent realized who she is, Sakatumi simultaneously teleported herself to the guard in the corner to her right, slamming her forearm into his Adams apple and her tantos into the anterior bellies of the two guards behind her. The last guard lifted his hands up to fire his weapon but was too in shock to notice that Sakatumi teleported his gun to her and shot him the head.

Dropping the gun, Sakatumi removed the blonde wig and a face mask then teleported her armour and Deathstroke's helmet onto herself, looking at the agent she teleported her tantos in her hand and sheathed them, behind her lower back. Through the slit in the helmet, the agent could tell she has a smirk on her face, before she teleported him, the ceiling cracked as it made an indentation with the sudden appearance of the agent.

"Time for some fun" Sakatumi said walking out as a hologram switched on making her look like the agent.

Arriving in the main security room, Sakatumi found five guards overlooking the security systems, with a flick of her wrist she teleported them out, Turning off her hologram she looked around the control panel until she found the lock down button. As the lock down activated, sirens and red lights flashed, shutters and blast doors closed all windows and entrances to the facility, each floor closed down as elevators shut down and stairwells sealed shut. As she looked up the building the plans, memorizing them, Sakatumi turned on the PA system.

"Uh, hello, is this thing on? All right, welcome to Nightmare radio, I am your host DJ Hinjew, today's slaughter goes out to AMANDA 'THE WALL' WALLER! In a few minutes I will be playing the soulful sound of agonizing death by the lovely CADUMS personnel, followed by the crying and begging of the wall." Sakatumi announced, "You got nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, so in the mean time prepare yourselves and pray to your puny gods, however, you could always take the easy way out and kill yourself. THANK YOU CADMUS; I LOVE YOU, GOODBYE!"

**CADMUS LABS**

**Lower levels**

As Sakatumi finished her announcement, nothing but a good time by poison started playing on a loop. Waller, sitting in an interrogation cell with an inmate, her assistant and four guards, immediately knew what Sakatumi is after.

"This can't be" Waller said with utter shock and horror, "She cannot be here, HOW DID SHE GET HERE!"

"I don't know, we did not have any intruder alerts," Waller's assistant replied, "all we got today were league of assassins supporters"

"It doesn't matter now, contact the squad, tell them to find and eliminate her," Waller ordered

"We're under lock down each floor is cut off from the others, it will be hours before it's lifted, how will they get to her?"

"That's not my problem, just send out the order"

"Yes ma'am"

**CADMUS LABS**

A battalion of guards had gathered in hallway Sakatumi teleported to on the first floor.

_"This is about to get messy" _Sakatumi thought as she teleported a LMG from one of the guards

"IT'S HER!" A guard yelled

"LOOK AT THE PRETTY BIRDY" Sakatumi yelled firing up the hallway

Another battalion came storming in from down the hallway, causing Sakatumi to Yell out as she change firing directions "DOWNTOWN"

As the last guard fell, Sakatumi dropped the LMG and checked the floor for any life sighs on her helmets HUD, finding none, she teleport to the upper floor, where a shot to the chest sent her sliding down the hallway a few meters. Her HUD showed her shield integrity at 70 percent, looking ahead she found the lights were out and with the blast doors down , it is pitch black, switching to night vision another shot hit her in the back send her crash to the ground, shields dropped to 40 percent.

"Damn it. Wilson, scan the floor" Sakatumi commanded her armour's computer, as she lay still

_"14 life signs detected in the east corner room, two at each end of the hallway,"_ Wilson replied

Looking up Sakatumi could see the gunman; he was using a .50 caliber anti material rifle, a Barrett Sakatumi guessed

_"Overkill much" _Sakatumi thought _"Your one to talk, Arkham ring any bells? Shut up"_

Concentrating, Sakatumi teleported herself to his position, while sending the gunman to the east corner room, using the rifle, she aimed for the other gunman but he had already moved, getting up she pulled a grenade out of her armour's holder, activated and teleported it to the east corner room. Turning a corner, a shot to the shoulder made her flip on her own axis before slamming into the ground, looking up she saw Deadshot at the end of the hallway, teleporting she cut his forearm with her left tanto.

"Let's see how you like it!" Sakatumi yelled firing his rifle directly in his face

Looking at Deadshots headless body, Sakatumi shuffled through her playlist and played O death By Jen Titus over the PA system

_"Shields recharging"_ Wilson informed

"Time to get serious" Sakatumi said teleporting to the next floor

Appearing in a janitor's closet, Sakatumi scanned the floor, she counted seven guards all armed with assault rifles. Three in the hallway the closet is in, four down the hallway around the corner, as the three guards past the closet, Sakatumi opened the door, seeing her inside the fired immediately and afterwards they found she was not inside.

Suddenly one guards head split in half, the left side sliding off, the second guards left leg and right arm jettisoned off in a burst of blood, the last guard felt Sakatumi leaning behind her and sharp pain run across her body as she stood still, unable to move, Sakatumi then burst forward followed by the guard bursting into pieces.

The last four guards came running around the corner only to freeze in place at the sight of their collages bodies, Sakatumi appeared in the center of them, with her lighting reflexes she teleported in rapid succession, too fast for the guards to register, stopping with her back to them, the guards exploded, limbs cut off at every joint.

A picture of Sakatumi mother in a hello kitty costume appeared on the HUD, it was a phone call.

_"This better not be about that outdated candy crush"_ Sakatumi thought before answering "Hello"

_"Hi, sweetheart, how are you?" _Her mother's cheery voice greeted

"I'm alright and yourself?"

_"Oh just wondering if your still coming over tomorrow for lunch"_

"Oh, yes wouldn't miss it"

_"What is it sweetheart, are you busy?"_

"No I can talk this assignment just got slightly irritating"

_"It must be; you're playing your creepy song"_

"It's nothing I can't handle; you know how these things go sometimes. Do you need me to bring anything for lunch?"

_"Oh could you pick up a case of my favorite Bordeaux, I finished the last bottle after successfully removing a risky brain tumor in a 8 year old patient"_

"Sure, I'll see what I can get from the company cellars"

_"Thank you sweetheart, oh, I noticed that you haven't accepted my invite to play..."_

Sakatumi hung up and teleported to the final floor, appearing in front of the elevator, she knew there are two suicide squad members left and who would come next, what she could not anticipate was when he would strike. The blast came hard and fast followed by a swift kick to the back, hitting the ground, she quickly flipped up and out off the way before he could strike again, landing hard, Sakatumi faced her attacker.

"Come on, Black spider, is that the best you got?" Sakatumi said with a smirk "I fought and killed Deathstroke, so you'd better pick up your game"

Noticing her HUD is down; Sakatumi figured out that blast was an EMP, her armour's systems were down and would need replacing.

_"Damn it Lawson, you make armour for every environment but you can't protect it against an EMP"_ Sakatumi thought, _"Hate her"_

Turning her full focus on spider, hoping her teleporter was still functional, she charged drawing her tantos, spider went to hit her shoulder, she spun along his arm and cut it off by the bicep, a hellish scream echoed through the halls.

"I told you to pick up your game, spider, if there is one thing I learned from Deathstroke, it's go for the kill as soon and as fast as possible" Sakatumi said with disappointment

As Sakatumi teleported, her tantos into his head and heart and back into her hands, Harley Quinn came bursting out of Waller's office with a giant mallet, Sakatumi watched Harley rushing down the hallway with a slight bewilderment. When Harley got close enough Sakatumi teleported the mallet into her hands and hit Harley in the face, dropping her, and then bashed Harley's head in with the mallet.

_"This girl is nuts, well was nuts"_ Sakatumi thought dropping the mallet

**CADMUS LABS**

**Lower levels**

"This can't be happening" Waller said to herself elbows on the slab, head in her hands

"We have no response from the guards or the squad" Waller's assistant informed

"Their dead, every last one, even our office personnel" Waller said wistfully "We are paying the price of letting a monster in our midst"

Waller's assistant looked on with disbelieve, she has never seen Waller in such a state, this is the woman who stares down psychotic killers and mass murders, the woman who commands the suicide squad, for her to be affected like this by a single woman was unthinkable.

**CADMUS LABS**

Sitting in Waller's chair, feet on the desk, Sakatumi poured herself a glass of the finest whisking she could find, looking around she noticed that the office looked very much like the oval office in almost every detail, the only difference being the CADMUS logo on the carpet and the bloody footprints.

"Damn, this is some fine whiskey but come on! The world is suffering and she's wasting money on this? It's time for an old fashioned working class ass kicking" Sakatumi said standing up and teleporting to the lower levels

**CADMUS LABS**

**Lower levels**

As the interrogation room doors opened, everyone turned to see Sakatumi standing by the threshold, behind her the hallway covered in limbs and corpses of the guards that were on that level.

"Won't you spare me over another year?" Sakatumi sang with the song that is still playing

Before anyone could react, Sakatumi teleported the guards and the assistant into the hallway, their bodies appearing in multiple sections.

Waller stood up, directly facing Sakatumi, "You can't do this! Do you have any Idea who I am?"

Sakatumi teleported next to Waller and kicked her right knee, shattering it, spun around, dislocated Waller's left shoulder and punched Waller in the ribs, breaking them and puncturing her right lung, then Sakatumi jabbed in Waller's necks collapsing her windpipe. Leaving Waller writhing on the floor in pain and gasping for air, Sakatumi sat down and faced the Joker.

"You're not Deathstroke, too short and thin," Joker mocked

"I'm only telling you this because I'm obligated to; my employer says that bat-douche should have killed you the first time you met, it's clear as day that you are psychopath and you a fully aware of what you're doing. So it makes no sense as to why you're still alive, 'cause people like you are beyond redemption," Sakatumi said ignoring jokers comment

"Well, AAAAAARRRRRR" Joker screamed as his tongue suddenly appeared on the slab

"DO NOT INTERRUPT ME, now let's stop the bleeding" Sakatumi said teleporting his heart out "No pump, no flow. Oh Waller is finally dead"

Joker's body slammed in a pool of blood on the metal surface of the slab.

"I had a whole speech ready, all you had to do was shut up and listen, I just don't see why Bat-freak kept you alive, what an, thou shall not kill holier than thou, idiot. What about the millions of people this bastard killed? Don't they deserve vengeance and justice? At least now they got it, he was so going to escape this place or be let out by Waller in some ill conceived plan for something" Sakatumi said irritated as she packed Jokers heart and tongue in paper bags before teleporting out with his body "I talk to myself to much"

**Moments later**

**CADMUS LABS **

Looking down the chasm that used to be the CADMUS labs, Colonel Trevor, could not stop thinking of all the unexplained deaths of the so called 'hero killer'. Walking back to corps of a guard holding a tablet, Trevor motion to an A.R.G.U.S. corporal to play the video on display, pressing play the Squad watched, from the perspective of Sakatumi, as she went on her assault of CADMUS, the sight was almost unbearable for some.

"She's a monster, are we even sure she's human?" A lieutenant asked

"Bag this and get it to the London HQ," Trevor ordered ignoring the lieutenant "Someone get this woman identified and shipped backed to base to be returned to her family. We're bugging out in ten mikes"

"On it sir"

**Present**

**Metropolis**

**Centennial Park**

Joining Captain Thunder in the center of the park Wally caught his breath, he had been searching every room of every building within the cordoned of area, looking for any trapped or injured civilians. Thunder had been scanning the area with his enhanced vision looking for stray Para-demons and informing Shayera of their locations.

"Was that the last one?" Shayera ask landing next to Wally

"Yeah, A.R.G.U.S. cleared the rest of the city and the surrounding areas" Thunder replied "Their all gone"

"Good, cause I wanna go home and continue my day off with my lovely wife" Wally declared

"And she is in total agreement," Shayera added "although this was a welcome change to fighting some costumed thug with a gimmick"

"Don't let me stop you, I'm going home to study" Thunder replied before taking off

"You know if you carried me, we could do that thing you like" Shayera said sultrily as she ran her fingers down Wally's chest

"The whole thing" Wally asked

"So long as you turn off you communicator"

Without a second thought, Wally blurred them both home

**The Fortress**

**Medical Bay**

Outside the operating room, Tonya floated so she could look through the observation window, seeing Zatanna arrive beaten and bleeding was the single most terrifying thing she had ever experienced, no child should witness its mother in such a state. Walking in Krypto glanced over at Zatanna then proceeded to, gently, nudge Tonya until she floated down, tears streaming from her eyes, Krypto lay down and brought her in so she could hug him and feel the soothing warmth of his body and softness of his recently cleaned fur.

"I don't want to lose mommy" Tonya muffled into Krypto's fur

"You won't lose her, Mistress Zatanna will recover and she'll be better than ever" Kelex replied

"You promise you'll save her?" Tonya asked looking up at Kelex sphere droid

"I promise to have you back in her arms as soon as possible" Kelex replied, "Now you just lay here with Krypto and I'll see to making some hot chocolate, I'll even add some marshmallows, how does that sound?"

"It sounds nice," Tonya replied softly as she snuggled into Krypto

As Kelex's droid left, she noted that Tonya calmed down by Krypto's presence, the wolfhound was capable of great viciousness when protecting his own and overwhelming gentleness when they needed caring. Kal asked for Zatanna and Tonya to be look after, and that is what Krypto would do, protect the pack and care for the pack, nothing else mattered.

**Japan, Mt Fuji**

In the woodlands of Mt Fuji, Bruce arrived at a secluded Japanese style large house, his search for Sakatumi lead him here, having snuck in through a window he ended up in a bedroom, in the corner Bruce waited for the owner. A woman in her late 40's early 50's, left the bathroom, in a towel, looking over at a corner of her room she saw Bruce, the house was designed to allow as much light as possible so there was not much shadow for Bruce to hide in.

"Mrs Hinjew" Bruce greeted

"I never married" Ms Hinjew replied drying her hair with an extra towel

"I need to speak to you about your daughter, where is she" Bruce demanded

"Could you leave? I have an early morning" Ms Hinjew replied annoyed as made her way to the closet

"I'm not going anywhere," Bruce growled, "Not till you tell me where your daughter is"

"Do you know what you get for your 40th birthday when your child has been building teleporters since she was six for the solo propose of teleporting limbs off flies?" Ms Hinjew replied as she opened her closet

Hearing the faint beeps of a touch pad, Bruce stepped closer to stop her reaching in the closet only to face the barrel of a large gun.

"A teleporter gun" Ms Hinjew said firing the weapon sending Bruce back to Gotham "Uh, time for bed"

Suddenly appearing in the middle of the Gotham zoo, Bruce knew he was not getting anything from Ms Hinjew and that Sakatumi would most likely make a move against him soon, no one liked his or her mother's safety threatened. He would have to prepare to face a teleporting assassin with a thirst for blood.

**Space**

**OA**

In the cafeteria Hal managed to get his hands on the only the meal reminiscent of anything on earth, a burger, the patty was not exactly beef but it was close enough for Hal. Finding a seat by a window overlooking one of the green beams of the planet, Hal was about to being enjoying his meal when Sinestro joined him.

"Ugh, come on" Hal complained

"You were supposed to meet me an hour ago," Sinestro said mildly irritated

"What? No, I was supposed to meet the guardians but they shooed me away" Hal replied

"No, the call was for you to meet me not the guardians" Sinestro countered

"Oh"

"It matters not, your here now as am I, let's get down to business"

"Seriously, Sinestro, you need to relax"

"I'll relax when I'm dead, now I have urgent news for you"

"OK"

"The Dario, They're headed for earth"

"What?" Hal said almost chocking on his burger

"Don't make me repeat myself"

"But we have been monitoring their movements' right, how could they get out of their system?"

"We're still working on that; they were last spotted in sector 112"

"Laira, what we're they doing there?"

"Apparently gathering information on earth, well the Kryptonian, the one you call superman"

"What do they want with him, are they looking to finish off the Kryptonian race?"

"No, they are looking for a child he saved"

"A child, what's so special about her?" Hal asked finishing his burger

Sinestro stood up "Follow me"

Leaving the building, Sinestro flew up followed by Hal, once in the upper atmosphere Sinestro turned to face Hal.

"Ever heard of The Trongar?" Sinestro asked rhetorically

"No"

"Of course not, The Trongar are almost extinct, Hal, The Dario colonized their world unaware of it inhabitants until 6 years ago, that's when they learned of what would be a great asset their empires expansion. The Trongar, despite their timed nature, are an incredibly powerful race, they have the natural abilities of a Kryptonian under a non- red star, except the heat-vision, and the only known weakness the Trongar have is old age and starvation"

"So what the child is the last one?" Hal asked confused

"She might as well be any adult Trongar left are expected to die within the year and none are fit or willing to fight," Sinestro replied, "This child, if it is a Trongar, would be a nightmare for the galaxy if the Dario got their hands on it. That's why I am assembling a strike force, we will aid earth when the Dario arrive and confirm the child's heritage, in the mean time head back and warn your comrades there, prepare as best you can"

Hal watched for a moment as Sinestro flew way, still trying to wrap his head everything Sinestro told him. Shaking it off, Hal made his way back to earth.

**Gotham**

**The Bat Cave**

As Sakatumi tied joker's body to Bruce's chair, she gained access to the bat computer as she scrolled through the files she found one named Hinjew, opening the file it contained pictures of her mother at work, shopping and interacting with the locals of the area she lived in. stunned, Sakatumi wondered how he found her mother, pushing down her frustration; she left a message on the massive central computer screen.

"That should put you on alert, not that it would do you much good," Sakatumi said before being unwillingly teleported away

**Apokolips**

In the dank back allies of the hellish world, Kal and Barda stopped by a fire pit, in which Barda threw Lashina's body, the pit spat out a bit of flame before they moved on. Walking in silence, Kal noted the despair of the planet; it seemed to be so thick it infected everything even the air filled with its stink, looking over at Barda Kal only saw determination; she had been waiting two years for this day.

"I'm not exactly dressed for this," Barda said breaking the silence

"Oh, right sorry about that" Kal apologized realizing Barda was only wearing a red T-shirt and jean cut-outs

"No need, Zatanna was in trouble" Barda waved him off "If you hadn't taken off as you did she wouldn't have been so luckily"

"Yeah, you right, we should find you a weapon to use, seeing as we left your mega rod" Kal suggested

"I'll find something when we arrive at the prison cells, do you see where they are?" Barda asked as they stopped at the edge of an alley, "it's been so long since I was last here much has changed"

"It's straight ahead but I see a service tunnel of some kind that we can use to enter undetected" Kal replied using his vision to survey the area "But we need to do something with these guys, we can't carry them forever"

"We should have just dumped them like Lashina" Barda said coldly "It's not like they would have died, well maybe Harriet"

Kal stared at her with a blank expression

"Ok fine, we can put them in an empty cell," Barda offered "But be aware they won't stay knocked out for long"

"I'm aware, let's get moving then" Kal replied quickly sneaking to the next alley

**Dark side of the Moon**

**ARMSTECH Control room**

Sakatumi suddenly appeared in a dimly lit sterile white room, overlooking the entire ARMSTECH base; she saw Ms Lawson's reflection in the window, wearing an all white pantsuit with an open collar. Turning Sakatumi found her employer seated next to Lawson, in a leather armchair wearing his usual all black suit, then realized he brought her here.

"Hey! You need to get batman on your kill list, he found my mother," Sakatumi demanded

"We know, he visited her earlier but you're not here for your personal problems," Lawson said viciously as she handed over a folder "Your next assignment"

Sakatumi gave Lawson a mean look under her helmet before opening the folder

"What, Olympus?" Sakatumi replied in shock "How am I supposed to kill them?"

"The same way you kill everyone else; with your tantos and teleporter" Lawson replied formally "The armour will protect you against their magic"

"My armour is dead, you build armour for every environment but can't even shield it from an EMP" Sakatumi reprimanded Lawson

"I told you the tech department was slacking off" Lawson told her employer

He rolled his eyes and Sakatumi's armour HUD come online

"Hey, Wilson's back" Sakatumi said with joy

"And I'm sure you'll find the armour properly protected, now if you'll excuse me I have to find new employees for the tech department" Lawson said walking out

"So can I get a tank when going to Olympus?" Sakatumi asked her employer nervously

He smiled teleporting her away

Bursting out a building on Olympus in a tank, Sakatumi laughing manically, randomly fired the automatic cannon, she killed Circe, Aura, Bia, Deimos and Phobos as the tank treads run over a water nymph and the Graces, crushing them like watermelons.

"TAKE COVER!" Pan, god of nature, yelled to the remaining few Olympians left as he pushed Tyche, Goddess of luck, out the way.

"**YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THE PRICE OF GREED, NOW THEIR IS NO ONE TO CALL. YOUR TRAGIC FATE IS LOOKING SO CLEAR**!" Sakatumi yelled out from the speaker systems

**Metropolis**

**A.R.G.U.S. outpost**

In his outpost office, with a glass of bourbon in his hand, Faraday sat across from Lane on the office couch, deep in thought.

_"I pray Zatanna is alright"_ Faraday thought _"Please let her be alright"_

"OK, superman will return when he is ready, which you think is soon" Lane said interrupting Faraday's thoughts

"Yes" Faraday simply replied

"How can you be so sure?" Lane asked unconvinced

"Calculated risk"

"Calculated risk?"

"Everything is a calculated risk but let us focus on CADMUS or the lack thereof" Faraday replied changing the subject

"Waller's dead not much to discuss there," Lane said coldly

"True but we have to find her killer, someone you want caught," Faraday pointed out

"What do you know about her?" Lane asked sitting up straight

"Only that her name is Sakatumi Hinjew, loves teleporters, daggers and mailing snuff films to the victims loved ones or me when there are none to receive the films" Faraday replied taking a sip of his bourbon

"Why you" Lane asked curiously

"All her victims are heroes and villains. A.R.G.U.S. handles any and all mete-human deaths and those of non powered heroes and villains" Faraday explained "but what I don't get is why kill Lois"

"No one wants the answer to that question more than me," Lane said intensely

"I know, that's why I have a team dedicated to finding the killer, although Batman may have made some progress"

"So wait and see if he comes up with something?" Lane asked

"Hmm, I wouldn't put my money on that" Faraday replied downing his bourbon  
><span><strong>Apokolips<strong>

Having drilled a tunnel with his heat vision, Kal carrying, a now bound and gagged, Kalibak and Steppenwolf, waited for Barda to pull herself up out the hole, with Harriet slang over her Shoulders. Locking the three Apokoliptians in a cell across the one they entered, Kal scanned the building and found what they came for.

"He's two levels below us, they posted six guards on either side of his cell" Kal informed, "We're going to have to fight our way to him. I suggest we split up and take them from both sides"

"That's fine with me, what kind of weapons do the guards have?" Barda asked intensely

"Some kind of spear looking energy weapon" Kal replied "Let's move, he's not looking so well"

"They'll pay for what they've done to him," Barda said as they run down the hallway

Arriving at the cell block, Barda grabbed a guards staff and kick him in chest with both feet, swing the staff in an arc she cut down three guards, fired the staff in ones face and stabbed another in the gut before driving it down into the chest of the its owner. On the other side, Kal using his speed rapidly slammed the guards into the walls and bars knocking them out.

"Oh no," Kal said softly finding Scott Free barely recognizable having been tortured for two years

"Come on Scott, wake up" Kal begged

Painfully opening one eye, Scott saw the blurry images of Kal and Barda "Barda, is that you?"

"Yes, Scott, I'm here" Barda replied weakly fighting back tears as she kneeled next him

"You brought Kal, You truly are a man of your word" Scott coughed

"I just wish we could have gotten here sooner" Kal replied "Come on let's get you out of here"

"No don't, I'm dying, they poisoned me" Scott informed, "They gave me Radion, injected it into me, I not going to last more than a couple of hours, I'm sorry"

"No, we're sorry, we didn't get here soon enough" Barda Replied drops of tears escaping her eyes

"Let's get you back to the fortress, maybe Kelex can figure something out," Kal offered

"Yes, the fortress is highly advanced if there is a way to save you we can find it there" Barda said with barley any hope

"I suppose if I am to die it would be best with friends and loved ones" Scott replied weakly

"Here can you work this thing?" Kal asked handing Barda the small cube that brought them to Apokolips

Barda entered a code on the cube it flew out her hand and created a boom tube, at the same moment alarms went off

"Took them long enough, come on" Kal said running into the tube carrying Scott

**Olympus**

Stopping the tank over the mangled corps of Eris, goddess of discord and strife, Sakatumi got out of the tank and looked around at the destroyed buildings and blood-covered streets, hearing a low grunt she turned her head and saw Hermes crawling around a corner, leaving a trail of blood from the stumps of his lost legs. Jumping down, Sakatumi made her way to Hermes, unsheathing her tantos.

"Oh Hermes, I know what you're hiding from," Sakatumi taunted walking around the corner "There you are, you should go quietly and accept that all is lost"

"Why are you here, what do you want?" Hermes asked crawling backwards

"You're so called 'King of the gods' upset my employer," Sakatumi replied "So I'm here to make him pay for not holding up his end of the bargain"

Hermes scuffled backwards as she approached him,

Quickly grabbing him, Sakatumi pulled him onto her chest and held a tanto his head and whispered, "Ssh, you are too far gone, you were never meant to make it this far and with your end insight clench what's left of your life and press it against your heart and dream of your paradise"

As a tanto sunk into Hermes head, he let out a final gasp of air, Stand up Sakatumi scanned the area for one she may have missed. Finding none, she made her way to the upper most temples, where she knew Zeus as waiting or hiding, it did not matter which it was to her, she had a job to complete; her primary focus is getting back to earth to kill Bruce.

**The Fortress**

**Medical Bay**

Surrounded by empty mugs Tonya had fallen asleep on Krypto, who also fell asleep for a while but was now keeping a watchful eye on her, feeling a warm hand gently shake her, she slowly woke up to see Kal smiling at her.

"Daddy" Tonya asked softly

"Yeah, I'm here, I see you have been keeping an eye on mommy" Kal replied

"Not that well, I feel asleep" Tonya said grumpily "It's all Kelex's fault; she gave me too many hot chocolates"

"You asked for more" Kelex countered

"At least you had Krypto to help you," Kal said ruffling Krypto's fur "Thanks for looking after them"

Krypto let out a happy huff

"Come on, lets go see how mommy is doing" Kal said picking Tonya up

Zatanna rested in a recovery room, surprised by the level of healing Kelex archived, she lay back on the bed enjoying the feel of the painkillers.

"Hey beautiful" Kal greeted as he entered the room with Krypto behind him

"Well if it isn't my favorite people and hound," Zatanna hazily replied

"Are you ok, mommy?" Tonya asked worriedly

"I'm fine sweetie, Kelex made me all better," Zatanna replied with a warm smile "Now come give me a kiss"

Tonya floated over to Zatanna gently kissed her cheek and lay down next to her

"Don't I get one from you too?" Zatanna asked Kal

Kal kissed her forehead and sat down on a chair next to the bed, "You should get some rest"

"I will, just let me enjoy this" Zatanna replied cradling Tonya "So much for the shopping spree"

"I'm sure Billy is thrilled about avoiding that"

"You lucky I'm too drugged up to hit you"

"I'm sure you'll get me for it later"

"Look mommy, I made this for you," Tonya said holding up a painting

It was realistic portrait of Kal, Zatanna, Tonya and Barda all standing by a fire place with Krypto laying by their feet and Kelex's sphere droid floating next to Barda

"Oh, this is beautiful Thank you, sweetie" Zatanna replied with a tear and kissing Tonya

"Where's Barda?" Zatanna asked reminded by the painting

"She's in the other recovery room. We found Scott, he's not in good shape" Kal replied sadly "We're preparing for his passing and it won't be long now"

"Oh, I can't image what she must be going through" Zatanna said sheepishly

"I can" Kal replied looking at her wryly

"I survived"

"Barely, got any news on the invasion?"

"A.R.G.U.S and the military have things under control; there are reports of superman sightings with a strange woman and a giant wolf aiding Captain Thunder" Kelex replied "Along with speculations on whether or not you have returned"

"Captain Thunder?" Kal asked confused

"That's what Billy is calling himself for the sake of being able to introduce himself" Zatanna replied

"Oh, well that works I guess" Kal replied

"So, has superman returned?"

"No, I only went to save you"

"But doesn't the world need superman, daddy" Tonya interjected

"The world doesn't want superman" Kal replied

"I didn't ask if the world wanted superman, daddy, I asked doesn't it **need **superman" Tonya corrected

"She's got you there," Zatanna said with a smirk

"The world doesn't **need **me, it has the Justice League" Kal replied "And most importantly it has Captain Thunder, who was **chosen** to be a champion for good"

"That maybe but you can still lend a helping hand every now again," Zatanna offered

"Yeah, help people, daddy, isn't that what you've being doing when mommy and I lived in Russia?" Tonya asked

"Again she got you," Zatanna whispered

"Do you really want me going back out there?"

"The league used some powerful magic to find us just to get to you, which probably put, you know who, on our trail" Zatanna pointed out "I don't want a repeat of that here"

"So give them what they want?" Kal asked rhetorically "But what about what I want?"

"What do you want?" Zatanna asked

"This" Kal gestured to the painting "I want us to be a family"

"We are family" Zatanna replied, "Not a typical kind of family but then again what family is? I'm not saying go back and be a full time hero just help them when they face really powerful foes and we know those are rare"

"Are you going to put on your top hat when a powerful wizard runs rampant?"

"Sure, if there are any left"

"Didn't you say they're the same ones, just reincarnating?" Tonya asked

"You told her that," Kal asked shocked

"I was not that great a mom in the first few years and I didn't know how smart she was" Zatanna defended "And don't switch this on me, are you going back?"

Kal remained silent in thought

"Go back, daddy, you're a hero"

Kal looked up and smiled "Ok, guess I can't argue with that"

**Olympus**

"You better call the police, call the coroner, call up your priest  
>Have them warn ya, won't be no peace, when I find that fool<br>who did that to you, yeah?  
>Who did that to you? My baby, who did that to you?<br>Gotta find that fool, who did that to you?  
>He'll keep on running but, I'm closing in<br>I'll hunt him down until the bitter end  
>If you see me coming then, who are you gonna call? Yeeah<p>

You better call the police, call the coroner, call up your priest  
>Have them warn ya, won't be no peace, when I find that fool<br>You better call the doctor, call the lawyer  
>I'll chased him all the way to California<br>Get my hey yea, gonna find that fool  
>Who did that to you?"<p>

Sakatumi sang and danced her up the stairway to the main temple, arriving at the doors; she spun and struck a pose finishing the song, then kicked the doors in. Zeus stood up from his throne, a twenty something looking man with long black hair and blue green eyes, in a short toga that showed his masculine figure.

_"Wait isn't he supposed to be old with white hair?"_ Sakatumi thought

"How did you get here? This place is sacred and only gods may enter" Zeus asked in a thunderous voice

"You are nothing but a pathetic wanna be, so arrogant and self-centered, you didn't even notice your entire, inbreed family getting slaughtered right at your door step," Sakatumi replied walking towards the center of the room "I guess that's why you didn't notice Ares violating the agreement you had with my employer"

"You work for..." Zeus could not finish the sentence as he realized who sent her

"The one and only" Sakatumi replied with a mock bow "You should have been like Hades, He keeps his realm in order"

Outraged that her employer would send a mortal woman after him and that she managed to kill his family, Zeus fired a lightning bolt at her but as he did so she teleported and swiped at him with a tanto, with lightning speed he dodge her and appeared at the other end of the room. Landing by the throne, Sakatumi turned, surprised by his speed, as another lightning bolt hit her, bracing for pain, she found that he armour absorbed the godly energy.

_"Armour at 100 percent charge,"_ Wilson informed,_ "redirecting excess energy"_

Sakatumi quickly pointed her hands at Zeus as her armour unleashed a torrent on lightning back at Zeus, narrowly dodging the blast; he made a beeline for her. Quickly dodging left, she stabbed him in the right rib cage, his momentum made the blade slice down his side causing him to let out thunderous scream, holding his insides together he turned to face her, Sakatumi stepped up to him and kneeled down.

"I like the way you fight, girl, quick and to the point" Zeus complimented

"I like the way you die, boy," Sakatumi replied slashing his face open "Bloody"

Teleporting back into the tank, she set off a self-destruct countdown that would wipe out all off Olympus, then teleported back to ARMSTECH.

**Metropolis **

**Daily Planet**

The red haired, with golden blonde tips, Lutessa Barker, diligently crosschecked her story, looking for any errors before sending it to Perry for review. As she finished her checks a shape pain struck her in the left side of her body, letting out a terrifying scream, Jimmy rushed over to her.

"Tess, what's wrong?" Jimmy asked terrified

"It's nothing, just a cramp, I'll be fine" Tess replied trying to play off the pain

"Are you sure?" Jimmy asked disbelievingly

"Yeah, it's just a cramp" Tess continued her lie as she forced herself to sit up

"Ok, can I at least get you something to drink, water?"

"Yeah, that would be nice" Tess replied with a wary smile _"This is bad"_

**London**

Arriving at Diana's Apartment, Athena collapsed on floor as she entered, a sharp pain run across her abdomen, Phillipus tried to calm her and find out was causing the pain.

"Mother" Diana yelled hearing Athena's scream from the bedroom

"Their dead, their dead" Athena replied as the pain started to die down

"Who's dead?" Phillipus asked hold Athena in her lap

"Olympus," Athena simply said with tears in eyes, "My family is dead"

Phillipus and Diana looked on in shock

**The fortress**

Along an ice river, in the tunnel leading to the fortress, Scott Frees body, in his yellow green suit, floats in a boat grave, two of the fortress guns activate and fire four shots at the boat. by the main doors Zatanna and Tonya, in heavy polar gear, stood by Kal, the holographic images of Jor-El, Lara, Zod and Faora, dressed in Kryptonian funeral robs with Barda, in her full blue and gold armour, next to Krypto on the shore, watching the boat as it caught ablaze.

"The universe lost a great man today" Kal commented

**Gotham**

**The Bat Cave**

Returning after dealing with some thugs and an armed robbery, Bruce found Jokers body strapped to his chair, Jokers heart nailed to his chest, tongue stapled to his forehead with a note.

"You should have done this sooner"

Looking up at his computer screen, he saw another message written in blood behind it his file on Hinjew open

_**"YOU'RE NEXT BAT-GUANO"**_


	11. Chapter 11

Weakened by red sun emitters Kal slammed on the floor of the Dario mother ships bridge, Admiral Dar stood over him holding her sword and immediately she stabbed him in the heart causing Kal to let out a loud beep; Dar stared with bewilderment wondering why Kal was beeping, then suddenly she woke up.

"Ugh, just a dream" Admiral Dar said getting out of bed

Reaching the com unite in her cabin, which is the cause of the beeping, Lord Emperor Bore appeared

"Admiral Dar" Bore greeted "I heard some disturbing news earlier"

"What news might that be, my lord" Dar asked apprehensively

"That you will be facing a Kryptonian," Bore answered uneasily "An empowered Kryptonian, as you are well aware the Kryptonians have only ever sent one or two solders at a time during our wars with them"

"Yes my lord, we are currently make the necessary preparations, we will exploit the weakness, we know has, it has" Dar assured," we have are slightly fortunate that the planet is not orbiting a blue star but we will not let our guard down, it is still highly dangerous"

"What of this female that it is with, any more information in it?"

"None thus far, my lord"

"Hmm, I have sent a weapon you will find most valuable to you" Bore informed "Head to the coordinates I have just sent"

"May I ask what it is?"

"It is a sword made with the last of the only substance known to be able to kill a powered Kryptonian" Bore replied with a smirk "With you swordsmanship and tactics, the Kryptonian will not be much of a problem"

"I am honoured by your faith in my skills, my lord" Dar replied with a bow

"I merely speak the truth," Bore said before cutting the connection

"This child better be there or may their gods have mercy on their souls," Dar whispered grumpily as she returned to bed

**Gotham**

**Bat cave**

In the makeshift lab of the cave, Bruce closed and locked a small briefcase, taping a letter labelled 'Grayson' on the side, he let out a heavy sigh and held back tears as he placed the case in a large package. Turning around Bruce saw Sakatumi standing behind him in her armour.

"Hologram" Bruce asked rhetorically

"You'd be dead otherwise, plus I'm on different landmass" Sakatumi replied patronizingly "How do you like the song? I've taken to having background music"

"What do you want? I got your message loud and clear," Bruce asked unwaveringly

"Are you upset that I killed your playmate? You have to admit it's been a long time coming," Sakatumi replied "And Best part is, I saved millions from his insanity and your ineptitude of properly dealing with him"

"You didn't have to kill him, he was incarcerated" Bruce argued

"I found Waller in an interrogation room with him; I doubt that she wanted information from him" Sakatumi countered "So I ask you, what do you think a woman like Waller would want with a psycho like the Joker?"

Bruce stared expressionlessly at her

"You must be real lonely now uh, most everyone that brought meaning to life is gone" Sakatumi stated "Your butler, Alfred, died a few years ago, during that tragic event that put you at odds with your former protégés and two died along with Selina Kyle, heard you had plans of asking her to marry you. Just between us she was going to yes"

"Trying to demoralize me?"

"Nope, just wondering how you keep going" Sakatumi confessed "Don't really care for the answer, not that you'll give one. In any case, think that contingency you're sending to Grayson will do any good"

"That's none of you business" Bruce replied coldly

This made Sakatumi smile "Aright, so listen, I'm going to do you a solid Bruce I'll give you a day to make amends with you former protégés, if you so wish, then I'm coming for you and may the best ass kicker win"

"Face to face, that's not your usual mo," Bruce commented

"You should see my latest videos" Sakatumi replied cheerfully "Tomorrow dusk Rose Lawn cemetery; look for the tombstone of Waylon Jones, I'll meet you there and don't worry I'm all about playing by the rules, this is how I fought Deathstroke, though I had to give him some motivation"

"And what are the rules"

"You fight with your chosen weapon and your wits, last man standing wins"

"Fair enough"

"I'm off for lunch, see you tomorrow," Sakatumi said before disappearing

Bruce looked at the package, placed a hand on it and took a deep breath, before picking it up and making his way to the bat mobile.

**The fortress**

**Living Area**

"So it was you," Zatanna said saddened

"Yes" Doctor Fate replied feeling shame

"I had hoped it wouldn't have been you who endangered my daughter's life"

"I am sor..."

Zatanna Interrupted with a backward line "Tae a gab fo tish"

In the master bedroom, having almost fully recovered, Zatanna ended her astral projection and floated down on to the bed, opening her eyes, Kelex's droid came into view inches from her face, freaked Zatanna fell onto her back.

"Apologies, Mistress" Kelex apologized "But I have some information you might find interesting"

"What could be so interesting that you needed to scare me half to death for?" Zatanna asked sarcastically

"During the operation I did some tests to understand you physiology to better the chances of saving you" Kelex informed "As part of the tests I took a DNA sample and noticed some interesting variations and began a cross check with other species. Would you care to know what I found?"

"If you're going to tell me I'm a full Homo Magi I already know that" Zatanna replied sitting up

"Would you like to know or not?" Kelex asked

"Fine, what did you find?"

"You are compatible to have a child with Kal-El" Kelex replied displaying a congratulations banner

Zatanna stared at the banner blankly and in bewilderment

"Ok, not the reaction I was expecting" Kelex said embarrassed and retracting the banner "Miscalculated that one, how embarrassing for an AI"

"Well, what were you expecting?" Zatanna asked regaining her composure

"Excitement at the prospect of having a child with Master Kal" Kelex replied

"I already have a child with him," Zatanna pointed out "Tonya"

"I know that, what I meant was a biological child, you know, one that you actually birthed yourself" Kelex explained, " You and master Kal have being copulating so often I thought you were trying to get pregnant"

"What, how do you know how often we, you know?" Zatanna asked embarrassed

"**I am** the fortress remember? I see and hear everything; in every room all the time" Kelex replied condescendingly "This droid is to make it easier to talk to me, you know, have something to focus on"

"So you've seen every single thing we did?" Zatanna asked mortified

"Every second of every moan" Kelex whispered callously

Zatanna stared at Kelex, thinking about every moment she thought she was in complete privacy in the fortress.

"Don't worry; I will never share anything you don't want me too, not without the express permission from the parties involved" Kelex assured

"Well, that's good, I guess" Zatanna replied slightly relieved

"So what do think about the possibility of having a child with master Kal?"

"I don't know I need time to think about this" Zatanna replied conflicted "Did you tell Kal?"

"No, this is a matter that was to be brought before you. Should you wish for him not to know, I could not object, even if I wanted to"

"So Kal and I can have a child together" Zatanna said softly, "One that's **ours**, like biologically ours"

"Yes"

"How is that even possible?" Zatanna asked

"Your Homo magi genetic make-up is close enough to the Kryptonian genetic make-up that you can have a child with Master Kal" Kelex simplified "It will take some trying, not that you'll mind, but you can have at least one or two pregnancies if you continue your copulating with the intention of child baring"

"A little sister or brother for Tonya" Zatanna mused, "What powers will the child have, theoretically I mean?"

"Depends on the genes the child inherits and which will be dominant" Kelex replied, "The child could have only magical abilities, Kryptonian abilities, both or none at all"

"Oh, so there's no way to know till the child is born"

"Yes, though I estimate it will most likely have a combination of both," Kelex informed "I take it you will be sharing the news with Master Kal upon his return"

"Let me think about all of this first, I'll let him know soon enough"

"As you wish, Mistress"

In the sanctuary a mourning Barda, wearing a pink t shirt and pyjama pants, sat legs crossed, looking up she found Tonya handing over a small exotic alien purple and white flower, taking the flower a smile crept on Barda's face and pulled in Tonya for a hug, who returned it in kind.

**Keystone City**

As the police cuffed and dragged the trickster away, Wally watched the crowd and a sense of worthlessness washed over Wally as he realised that he has been in this, kind scenario so many times that he is able to tell exactly what would happen next.

Looking down, Wally mouthed along with the Trickster as he cried out "I'll be back, Flash!"

"Unfortunately you will" Wally whispered softly

**London**

**A.R.G.U.S. HQ**

Look out over the view of London; Faraday held a glass of bourbon while counting the first grey hairs to appear in his long adventure filled life. Kal sat on the couch, wearing a black suit, in his Clark Kent disguise.

"You must have some impressive air miles to be hopping around the world like you do" Kal joked

"Ha, we do have a teleporter, you know, nothing fancy but it gets the job done" Faraday replied

"Right, the watchtower" Kal chuckled "Not as great as flying though"

"After all these years, I still don't get those glasses" Faraday commented turning around, "How is it possible for people to be fooled by that?"

"Magic" Kal simply replied, "Zatanna cast a spell on them that makes everyone unable to put two and two together"

"Speaking of, are you back as superman?" Faraday asked

"Not in the capacity you think" Kal replied

"I think you're just going to give a helping hand when needed" Faraday retorted, "Which is good enough for me"

"Really, I thought you were front running my full return as superman," Kal said getting up

"I practically raised you, Kal," Faraday replied set down his bourbon on his desk "I would have been perfectly fine if you were nothing more than a report or what have you, but that's not what happened. I never wanted the superhero life for you, hell, I never wanted you to be more than any average person but you became an icon, something neither of us wanted, so if you want spend more time in the fortress with Tonya and Zatanna so be it, as long as you're happy then I'm happy"

Kal, happily surprised, smiled at that as he stood next to Faraday looking out the window "Thanks, Faraday, it means a lot to hear you say that"

"I lost a lot of time with my daughter, Kal, not my choice but I told myself I wouldn't alienate myself from the next child that should pop up into my life." Faraday admitted, "Plus I made a promise to your father that I would be always be there for you and I'm nothing if not a man of my word"

"I heard about Conner"

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty, guess it was better than dying in agony as your own body slowly ripped itself apart" Faraday replied "Honestly I think she did him a favour"

"He didn't have long, did he?"

"Hmm"

"Got any ideas on why she killed them?"

"From what we gathered the assassin was there for ravager to get Deathstroke worked up before killing him"

"Are you close to finding her?"

"Bruce said he found her mother but she's not talking"

"Not surprising"

"I doubt we'll ever find her," Faraday said reaching for his bourbon

"I could ask Kelex to do a scan," Kal offered

"She needs a face or DNA to do that and we don't have either"

"Right"

"Bruce is next on the kill list, his visit to the assassin's mother wasn't the best move" Faraday informed "I know with Bruce's reaction to when You and Diana dated and what happened with Captain Atom, you haven't been on the best of terms especially with the whole Russia thing and jeopardising Tonya's safety. I figured you'd still want know in any case"

"What's that thing people say about him?" Kal rhetorically asked "Oh right, His Batman"

"That doesn't mean anything, he just a man in a suit" Faraday replied "Sure given enough preparation he could possibly beat almost anyone, but even then it's not a clear win cause while his preparing so is his opponent"

"I know, I always laughed inside when someone suggested he could beat me," Kal confessed, "So what are you going to do? I take it you have a plan to aid him"

"No, I do not have one, we're dealing with an unknown, what the assassin will do next is beyond us, it could be anything from a simple stabbing to opening a portal to the sun" Faraday replied "Bruce is on his own on this one"

"Really?" Kal asked stumped

"You should get back to Zatanna, I'm sure she's fine but your company is probably what she needs most right now"

"Faraday" Kal started to object

"Just go Kal, there's nothing to be done about it" Faraday interjected "You'd know that if you'd seen the videos, seen the many ways each victim died, the way she exploits their weakness, turns their strengthens against them, there's no saving him"

The image of Scott's death firmly in Kal's mind made the statement hit him harder than intended

"Call if you need me" Kal said defeated as he slowly left

_"I wish my demons would let me,"_ Faraday thought shamefully

**Japan, Mt Fuji**

In form fitting black dresses and flats, Sakatumi and her mother listened to a soulful playlist as they sat eating a sushi lunch in the dining room. Sakatumi sat silently as Ms Hinjew recounted her week, but what got her interest was her mother's encounter with Bruce last nights.

"And I was like pew, a teleporter gun" Ms Hinjew recounted "Then went to bed"

"Hmm" Sakatumi replied deep in thought

"What's wrong, the Olympians too much for you?" Ms Hinjew asked, "You're hardly ever this quite"

"I'm just thinking about how to deal with him, batman I mean," Sakatumi replied still in deep thought "Unlike the Olympians, he'll be expecting me and prepared for my teleporting"

"I have an idea that will help," Ms Hinjew said, finishing her lunch

"Oh, what might that be?"

"Follow me" Ms Hinjew replied getting up "Bring my wine"

Walking in the home office, Ms Hinjew opened a closet and pulled out a large narrow briefcase; opening it, she showed Sakatumi an experimental Gauss gun.

"A sniper rifle" Sakatumi asked mockingly

"No, a Gauss gun" Ms Hinjew corrected "More specifically, an orbital Gauss gun"

"Orbital?" Sakatumi asked quizzically

"Yes, you take this into low orbit add this tungsten encased .50 calibre depleted uranium core bullet and your targeted will be obliterated" Ms Hinjew explained holding up a bullet "Along with anything within the immediate vicinity"

"Why do you have this thing?"

"You built this when you where five before your obsession with teleporting kicked in"

"I don't remember that"

"There is a lot you don't remember, it doesn't matter now; you can use it against batman" Ms Hinjew replied, "There's nothing he can do that will stop this bullet, not his knowledge of your methods or his money and ingenuity"

"Hmm, well, I do need to work on my sniping" Sakatumi mused "But I promised I wouldn't go too far off book"

"That was about you risking your life needlessly and you did say you fight with your chosen weapon and wits" Ms Hinjew rebuffed "and last I checked a gun is a weapon"

"You know most parents don't give their kids experimental guns or advice on how to get the upper hand on a hero"

"Most parents don't have a child with a teleporting fetish"

"Ok, you got me there but did you really have to use the word fetish?"

"I most definitely did"

**London**

A chorus of, increasingly weak, knocks rasped on the door of Diana's apartment, opening the door Diana found Lutessa Baker leaning painfully on the door frame, Diana immediately picked Tess up and led her to the couch and laid he down.

"Ms Baker what are you doing here?" Diana asked

"I know... It's weird... Daily Planet reporter... Showing up at your door but I... Needed to see your mother" Tess struggled to reply

"My mother" Diana asked suspiciously

"Diana, Lady Athena is asking to see you guest" Phillipus said standing in the hallway leading the bedrooms

"Little help" Tess warily asked

Diana lifted Tess's arm around her neck and Lead her to her bedroom. Athena lay on the bed sweating in pain, looking up she stared at Tess, who stared back, reaching out she took Tess's hand and a bright light beamed from their point of contact and filled the room. Moments later Athena and Tess stood beside the bed completely healed, Diana and Phillipus looked on in confusion, wondering what just happened.

"I believe we owe you an explanation," Athena said

"Yes, you do" Diana replied

"Well, as of yesterday, Olympus has fallen; everyone of Olympus is dead, murdered. We're all that's left, besides those of Hades" Athena explained, "The pain we felt occurred because of the deaths, so many of us dying at the same time does that"

"Who could do such a thing?" Diana asked unnerved

"I don't know" Athena replied

"The perhaps you could tell us who she is?" Phillipus asked looking at Tess distrustfully

"I am Lutessa Baker, Daily Planet reporter" Tess replied with a smile "But you know me as Aphrodite, goddess of love"

"What!" Diana yelled in disbelief

"Yes, I have been hiding amounts the humans all this time but" Aphrodite said shyly as she shifted her appearance "But let's be honest, where else would expect me to hide?"

"But why?" Diana asked

"Olympus isn't what it's cracked up to be" Aphrodite replied

"Not in the slightest" Athena added

"So now what" Phillipus asked

"I go back to my life as a reporter and we never speak of this again" Aphrodite replied

"Agreed" Athena declared

"What?" Diana and Phillipus asked

"Agreed" Athena repeated compellingly

"Agreed" Diana and Phillipus reluctantly complied

"Well, I'm off, thank you again Athena" Aphrodite said

"And again don't mention it" Athena replied before Aphrodite teleported

"Not one word about it," Athena warned as she saw Diana's disapproval

**Metropolis**

**Lex corp. tower**

Lex Luthor charged into his office furious, followed by Mercy Graves, yelling about the loss of his company

"How the hell did ARMSTECH get my company?" Lex asked

"I don't know, sir" Mercy replied

"Clearly, you don't know much of anything, where's Lawson?"

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear" Lawson replied as she suddenly appeared, in her all white pant suit, leaning against the desk

"What the hell is going on?" Lex asked furiously

"The plan is proceeding as expected" Lawson replied

"As expected? You were supposed to acquire ARMSTECH for Lex corp. not the other way around" Lex pointed out

"Leave us, dear" Lawson told Mercy

"No, stay here," Lex ordered seeing Mercy leavening "I'm your boss"

"Yes, a boss that can't afford your services any longer and besides his not that great a guy to work for" Lawson stated, "So be a dear and wait outside"

"Hey, I paid you a small fortune to take over ARMSTECH" Lex said angrily walking up to Lawson

"And you think that gives you power over me?" Lawson asked disdainfully "The only person with that kind of power is my employer and he just took your company"

"You work for ARMSTECH?" Lex asked disbelieving

"Wondering how the great Lex Luthor missed that little detail?" Lawson replied mockingly

Lex went for a backhand, only to hit the steel hard shoulder of Lawson's employer.

"Aar, how the hell, what are you?" Lex yelled

"You assaulted my employer, that can't go unpunished," Lawson stated

Staring into Lawson's employers ruby red eyes, Lex started to age rapidly, suddenly 97 years old, Lex shuffled towards the door trying to get away.

"Mercy, dear, please escort, Mr Luthor, out the building and promptly return to discuss your new career"

Mercy entered and horror appeared on her face as she saw what happened to Lex, regaining her composure, she proceeded to escort Lex out the office.

"Lex corp. Will prove to be a great asset for our plans" Lawson mused "Especially with the current projects their running and I may find some suitable replacements for the tech department. I suppose you'll be off to see you favourite person in the universe"

Her employer slowly turned and stepped in front of her, run his hands up her things, around her waist and held her behind.

"Sorry, I'm still adjusting to what she is" Lawson said looking him in the eyes, arms crossed

He kissed her forehead and disappeared

"Just had to fall for him, didn't you" Lawson said under her breath

**New York**

On a rooftop Damian sat, bored out his mind, staking out a warehouse when he noticed Night wing three buildings away. Quickly getting up, Damian raced across the rooftops and met Night wing half way.

"Need something Grayson, I'm on a date" Damian asked impatiently

"I'll be quick, I'm here about Tim" Grayson replied

"You are well aware I don't care about him," Damian reminded Grayson

"Yeah but she does" Grayson pointed out as he gestured to batgirl over at the stake out

"Are you sure about that?" Damian countered with venom in his voice

"She is your girlfriend now, but that doesn't change the fact that they did have a thing once" Grayson shot back

"He had a thing with everyone, so what do you want?" Damian asked irritated

"Tim's funeral is this weekend," Grayson informed "She'd want to be there"

"Hmmm, I'll let her know" Damian groaned

"Damian"

"I'll let her know"

"Bruce won't be there"

"Of course not, why would he be? He hates us after what happened, which by the way is Tim's fault and we all know it"

"That's not, ugh... Just let her know about the funeral," Grayson said as turned to leave

"Wait," Damian said, taking a step to stop Grayson "I, uh... why haven't you called?"

"What" Grayson asked confused

"Why haven't you called?" Damian repeated, "I thought you said you would keep in touch after everything that happened"

"Well, I didn't want to make things worse for you since you still live at the mansion" Grayson confessed

"I moved in with her," Damian informed "its part of how we got together"

"Oh, I did not know that"

"You would have if you kept in touch or answered my calls"

"I thought you were still at the mansion," Grayson said reprehensibly, "If there's a way for me to make it up to you name it"

Damian smiled

**Gotham**

**Bat cave**

In his green arrow outfit, hood up, Oliver stood unfazed, by a tank-like bat mobile, as Bruce, cowl down, let off some steam. Oliver focused on the crashing sound of the small waterfall and the screeching of bats flattering about in the cave drowning out Bruce's yelling, Oliver was not in the mood to deal with one Bruce's lectures.

"I can't believe this," Bruce said catching his breath "You and Faraday knew Clark was still on earth this whole time"

"As did Captain Thunder, Damian, Perry White, J'onn and most obviously Zatanna" Oliver replied candidly "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner, is 'the world's greatest detective' slipping?"

Bruce scowled at Oliver

"Doesn't work without the cowl, Bruce," Oliver said with a smug smile "How many times must I say it?"

Bruce turned and walked up the stairs to the bat computer

"Still looking for the assassin uh?" Oliver asked leaning against the bat mobile "Word is, she coming after you next"

"How do you know?" Bruce asked turning at the top of the stairs

"She likes taunting Faraday for some reason, keeps sending copies of the videos and sometimes hint's of her next victim" Oliver relied "Recently A.R.G.U.S. gained some info from the latest video, it seems she has found a way to teleport without the need of those disks she had"

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Bruce demanded

"You interrupted me with your self-righteous lecture" Oliver countered "besides your batman, which probably why she gave you a heads up and that's more than what her previous victims got"

"I'll be ready for her in any case" Bruce shot back

"I don't think so, Bruce, as much as you'd like to think otherwise you and I have no business hanging around people with godlike powers, let along fighting them" Oliver confessed, "For what its worth, which isn't much, it's been nice knowing you"

Bruce watched stunned as Oliver left on his bike, Oliver's doubt was unexpected and why would Oliver think he could not be ready for the assassin, what did Oliver know that he did not.

**Space**

**Our solar system**

Passing Jupiter Hal came to a stop as he received a message on his ring; screen construct appeared displaying the message.

_"All lanterns assigned to Sinestro's task force report to sector 1014, targets are attacking the local home world, respond immediately and with extreme prejudice"_ Kilowog reported

Hal quickly left to make the rendezvous, feeling slightly suspicious of the attack he decided to keep it to himself until he arrives.

**The Fortress**

**Living area**

In the living room Zatanna, wearing shorts and one of Kal's button-up shirts, sat with Tonya, wearing a pink and white unicorn onesie, in her lap as they played with paints, Zatanna still could not believe the kind of paintings Tonya could make, paintings people paid millions for and here a five year old made perfect reproductions of them. Barda lay on the couch stroking Krypto's back while gazing at the flower Tonya gave her in a vase; the flower showed her that even with the loss of Scott she still has people who care about her, that she has a family.

Silently floating by Kal took a quick glance at his unusual family, despite not being the picture he had grown up with of what family is he could not be happier without them. Having made his way to the central core, the holograms of his parents, Zod and Faora appeared by the space pod.

"This is unexpected," Faora remarked

"I have a question," Kal said hiding his nervousness

"We'll answer as best we can" Jor-El replied calmly

"As you are aware during my time as superman I have been against killing and adopted a no kill rule" Kal started "So my question was I being foolish?"

"Why do you ask" Zod asked curiously

Kal stared at Zod for a moment "I'm going back to help the world and after catching up on what has been happening in the world over the past year, I found that crime has dropped because the criminals I've been fighting over the years are dead and gone. Then I realised the only reason I kept fighting these criminals is because they kept escaping the prisons or using loopholes in the justice system, so if I were to deal with new villains, I don't want to be constantly dealing with the same ones on a regular bases. I have literally lost count on how many times I have dealt with the old villains over the years and I do not want to repeat that"

"Then that should answer your question" Zod replied condescendingly

"So I was being foolish," Kal reflected "But I couldn't be superman if I killed"

"Consider this Kal" Faora offered, "You deem the armed forces of earth as true heroes by virtue of not having powers and still putting their lives in danger to protect their homes and loved ones, right?"

"Yes"

"But as you said you were against killing and not only that you believed that all heroes so abide by the no kill rule, so how could you call the armed forces true heroes when they themselves kill?" Faora pointed out

"What Faora is trying to say is that even if you did kill, you would still be a hero" Lara simplified "All you had to do was keep killing as a finial last resort"

"Instead of always looking for some time consuming, life risking solution to a problem that would eventually come back and cause more harm the next time around, go for the kill" Faora added

"But everyone's life is sacred" Kal countered

"Even Mongol, Kalibak, and Darkseid" Faora rebuffed "The Joker"

"Are their lives really so important that you allow them to kill thousands if not millions of civilians, just because you don't want to kill?" Zod asked bluntly "Are they really worth that? Cause you are just as responsible for the civilians deaths by virtue of the fact that you could have stopped them but choose not to"

Thinking about all the people they killed, Kal could not argue against Zod and Faora's point

"Some people are just beyond saving Kal and like a rabid dog with rabies, you put them down" Zod stated "As humans say"

"Even the phantom zone isn't a solution you can always use" Jor-El mentioned

"Do not distress Kal, like police officers who never even fire their weapon their whole lives, you could find yourself never having to go beyond just threatening a villain" Lara commented

"Even so be prepared just encase you have to" Zod added

"Master Kal, I am receiving a distress signal on the emergency secure line" Kelex interrupted via loud speaker "It is originating from the Peruses arm, Crab Nebula and that's as far I got"

"Did a message come with it?"

"We two are of the sun and burn bright forever"

"Damn it, I know who it is, try to narrow down the location of the signal, you can me on the way, inform Zatanna and Barda that I'm going off world" Kal ordered as he left the core "We'll continue this talk later"

**Sahara Desert**

In her armour, Sakatumi navigated her way through a sand storm with a 3D layout of the area on her HUD, spotting her destination; she stumbled along the sand dunes before sliding down to a rocky crevice, an official id photo of Lawson appeared on the HUD as Sakatumi called her.

"I found your stupid hole, now what?" Sakatumi informed bitterly

"What are you so upset about?" Lawson asked unnerved

"You sent me down here while there's a sand storm!" Sakatumi replied

"That's on you; this was scheduled for tomorrow and besides you know superman is our primary objective" Lawson countered "Now you said you found a hole?"

"Yes and a large one at that" Sakatumi replied irritated as the winds picked up speed

"That's not good" Lawson sighed, "Jump into the hole"

"What, hell no" Sakatumi protested

"That's an order, now jump" Lawson commanded

"Hate you" Sakatumi said under her breath as she jumped into the hole

"Don't care" Lawson replied as Sakatumi teleported to the ground before gaining too much velocity from the fall

Switching to night vision, Sakatumi scanned the cave for life signs

"See anything," Lawson asked

"Just a giant sealed door" Sakatumi replied, "Scans so a magical protective shield as well"

"So it hasn't been opened," Lawson said with an exited sigh "Alright, get out and find a way to seal that cave entrance"

"Why do you come down and do it yourself?" Sakatumi replied teleporting out

"Not in my job description"

"It's not in mine either"

"I couldn't risk the squads" Lawson replied "too high risk with what's down there"

"Wait a minute this is where Superman and Zatanna put that sorcerer they fought a few years ago, you sent me into a death trap!" Sakatumi realized in disbelief

"You could handle it" Lawson replied callously "You did kill all of Olympus"

"I thought we were friends," Sakatumi said slightly hurt

Lawson held back a laugh, due to the ridiculousness of the notion of being friends with Sakatumi.

"Did you seal the hole?" Lawson officially asked regaining her composure

"Yes, I teleported a bunch of rocks onto it" Sakatumi replied

"Return to base, I have a solution for your assassination of batman" Lawson informed

Sakatumi teleported to Lawson's symmetrical dark grey silver office in the ARMSTECH moon base

"You're not here"

"I'm in the hanger bay" Lawson replied

"Should have mentioned that before I teleported" Sakatumi said as she appeared next to Lawson

"Should have asked" Lawson rebuffed, "Anyway here's your low orbit solution"

Taking off her helmet, Sakatumi looked over the highly experimental stealth recon ship

"Is this even out of the prototype stage?" Sakatumi asked suspiciously

"You needed something to get you into low orbit, here it is, take it or leave it" Lawson replied callously

"Pilots"

"They'll be ready to go at dusk"

"Cool, thanks Lawson" Sakatumi said walking away

**Keystone City**

In their backyard Wally did his warm ups, as Shayera fiercely trained with practice dummies, watching her, Wally could not stop thinking about the conversation they had the other morning. Shayera's words run over and over in his mind and he realised she was right, they weren't making a difference, how could they be when the same bad guys keep coming back and civilians getting caught in the cross fire.

"Is something wrong, Wally?" Shayera asked floating above having noticed Wally stopped stretching

"Hmm, what" Wally asked looking up

"Is something wrong?" Shayera asked again, "You're rather quite"

"Just thinking about what you said the other day at breakfast," Wally replied standing up

"I take it you mean what I said about us being ineffective"

"Yes and you're right" Wally replied shamefully "We are ineffective, the justice league is ineffective"

Shayera followed Wally over to the porch table, landed and sat down beside him

"We never think about the people, not really, sure we save the day but its not permanent" Wally continued "What use is it putting the bad guys away, when their just going to come back. Hundreds if not thousands people die every time a city is attacked and all we do is return the villain to the same hole he came from. Where is the justice in that? Is that what the justice league stands for?"

Shayera held Wally's hand and gave him a small smile

"We were supposed to make a difference, a better world but instead we became enablers for lunatics, who have an addiction to causing chaos." Wally continued, "I keep thinking of the smug looks my enemies have every time we meet, ha, look at that MY enemies, not bad guys, MY enemies, as if to say they belong to me. Uh, it's all a game, a sick twisted game which we are losing because we're incompetent and we need to end it"

"We will, in the most effect way possible" Shayera replied

"I can't kill, Shayera, don't ask me too" Wally said sighed

"Wally, I would never ask you too just as you will never ask me" Shayera replied softly "I don't want us to be killers, just give the impression that we are"

"So just make them think we would cross the line?" Wally asked

"Just make them think we would cross the line," Shayera repeated with a warm smile

**Space**

**Unnamed planet**

In an abandoned temple, Admiral Dar followed by Commander Vid, approached what looked to be an alter, where a personal guards man of Lord emperor Bore waited with a long thin package.

"Admiral, an honour" The guard saluted

"At easy guardsman" Dar replied, "I'm told you have a package for me"

"Yes, ma'am" The guard said as he presented the package and opened it "This is from Lord emperor Bore's personal weapons collection, He wishes for it to aid you greatly in the coming days"

Looking in the package, Dar saw a simple long sword b the blade immediately drew her attention. It had a usually green luminescence that confused her at first, as she wondered what kind of metal this was but then realised it was a crystal.

"What is that?" Vid asked

Picking up the sword and getting a feel for it, Admiral Dar smiled "Kryptonite"

"We sacrificed half our fleet for a green crystal," Vid asked bothered

"You have no idea what this can do to a Kryptonian do you?" Dar replied unfazed "This is more valuable to our mission than a whole fleet; for this alone is the only guarantee we have of killing the Kryptonian and you'd best watch what you say for this is a gift from Lord Emperor Bore and your words were tantamount to treason because of that fact"

Commander Vid stood silent

"Thank you, guardsman, inform Lord Emperor Bore, that I will use this gift to it full advantage and that I will promptly return it as soon as we have retrieved our lost property" Dar said dismissing the guard

"At once" The guard saluted before leaving

"What is the status on the preparations?" Dar asked seething the sword

"We are full armed and prepared for the Kryptonian" Vid replied

"And the female, any information on it"

"None"

"Unfortunate"


End file.
